A Campanha Nacional das Escolas da Comunidade - CNEC e o Entusiasmo Pela Educação Ginasial no Ceará no Período de 1958 a 1963

Abstract

This dissertation is about the emergence of the CNEC– Campanha Nacional das Escolas da Comunidade (National Campaign of Community Schools) in the late 1950’s and early 1960’s and its implications in the development of the secondary school teaching in the State of Ceará. This is an analysis of the situation of the secondary teaching, in Ceará and the contributions of the CNEC, which founded 80 schools in at least 40 cities in Ceará throughout a 50-year period. The CNEC was created in the City of Recife in 1943 as the “Campanha do Ginasiano Pobre” (The Poor Secondary Student Campaign), which was the idea of the secondary student Felipe Tiago Gomes whom, together with some colleagues, decided to help poor students to continue their studies beyond the primary level. After founding the first secondary school, they decided to expand the idea to the rest of the country, and in Ceará it was officially created in 1958 with the opening of the first State Section, a necessary condition for a CNEC school to be created. This work presents a reflection on the secondary teaching in Ceará from 1958 to 1963 and tries to figure out the circumstances which favored the emergence, expansion and permanence of the CNEC in the educational scenario of Ceará. The methodology used in this research is based on the comprehensive approach which encompasses the analysis of texts on the theory, history and philosophy of education at that time, research of primary sources from CNEC, newspapers, governmental papers and interviews with remaining CNEC personnel of the period investigated. Through the readings of the theory and history of education, we found out that the Brazilian patriarchal and patrimonial social structures of that time still dominated the educational structures in Ceará, even so, it did not prevent the growing demand of schools and forced the State to open school vacancies to attend the population. The Government of Ceará created a partnership with the CNEC, which was used to tap the educational system and relieve the pressure for school vacancies. We also found out that the CNEC was the main responsible for the expansion of the secondary teaching (fifth to eighth grades) in the municipalities of the State which, at that moment, basically only had primary schools. In fact, these secondary schools were turned into real “islands of urbanization”. They were built in lots far away from the towns. These lots were donated by community members and the schools would count on federal, state and municipal financial support in addition to small contributions paid by the students’ parents. We understand that the CNEC also contributed a lot helping to reduce the rates of school evasion in the municipalities of Ceará because the students did not have to move out of their hometowns to the capital of the State in order to continue their studies