Educational policies for rural education: life history of students at Escola Nacional Florestan Fernandes

Abstract

Agrarian reform policies in Brazil and rural education are studied, as well as the role of the MST in the creation of rural education aimed at the social movements of the land. The objectives of this study are to present the legal frameworks of agrarian reform and how education for the rural man appears in the midst of these public policies and to describe the educational actions currently existing in the movements of struggle for land in the voices of students and managers of the Florestan Fernandes National School, founded by the Landless Workers Movement (MST). This is exploratory-descriptive research, with a qualitative cross-sectional approach, the subjects of this study were 1 general coordinator, 1 pedagogical coordinator and 5 students, who participated in a semi-structured interview, individually. The results showed that these have their origins in the countryside, they sought in the studies a way to improve their knowledge about the struggles in the countryside, about improving the quality of life in their settlement and in the dissemination of education in the countryside that exists in the ENFF. It was concluded that Brazilian educational policies are discontinued and education in the countryside was never prioritized until the emergence of PRONERA program, and actions such as those of the MST. Education in the countryside was alien to the eyes of legislators and education professionals, only emerging after the struggles described in the voices of the research participants, within the social movements themselves.