The IBGE State Superintendence in Maranhão (SES/MA), represented by the analyst and specialized technical advisor, João Ricardo Silva, participated in the I Capacity-Building Meeting of the “Escola da Terra” Program, promoted by the Federal University of Maranhão (UFMA), between 18 and 22 of December of 2023, in the municipality of Cantanhede, located 167 km away from the capital. As part of the event, the analyst lectured about “Surveys, database and educational contents of the IBGE for rural and quilombola education”, which took place in the Educational Center Getúlio Vargas.
In Maranhão, the program is managed by UFMA and operates in the training of teachers and other pedagogical agents, who work with beginners of the primary education in schools with multiclasses (several educational levels together) in the countryside and in Quilombola schools. Thinking of that, the lecture given by the IBGE focused on explaining the work of the institute as a producer of statistical and geoscientific data. “We proposed a content to add value to the formation of the target audience. So, we presented the information produced by our institute, which is fundamental for the pedagogical practice”, claimed Mr. Silva.
In addition to the IBGE, other bodies participated in the event, as the Federal Institute of Maranhão (IFMA) and the Municipal Secretariat of Education (SEMED), totaling 10 lecturers and 136 schoolteachers in the countryside belonging to the public municipal system of education. In the occasion, the mayor of Cantanhede, José Martinho dos Santos Barros, and the secretary of Municipal Education, Emerson Marques Costa, also took part in the activities.
Escola da Terra (Earth School)
The program is part of the initiatives developed by the Ministry of Education aimed at the continuous training of teachers who work in the countryside (rural) schools. All the workshops are carried out by public universities, which join the program freely. In 2013, MEC selected seven federal universities to participate in a pilot-project of the Escola da Terra (Earth School), in four of the five Major Regions of the country: Amazonas (Ufam), Bahia (UFBA), Pará (UFPA), Pernambuco (UFPE), Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Minas Gerais (UFMG) and Maranhão (UFMA).
On December 28, the SES/MA joined another initiative of the Escola da Terra, in São Luís, with the same lecture given by analyst Dr. João Ricardo. This time the event took place in the Solar Cultural Maria Firmina dos Reis, with the presence of municipal teachers from São Luís, Paço do Lumiar and Cachoeira Grande. Currently, the activities carried out in Maranhão are under the coordination of professor Dr. Antônio Evaldo Almeida Barros (UFMA).
