Indigenous people ask the government to create a university.

By Alex Rodrigues - Reporter for Agência Brasil - Brasília

Participants in the 19th edition of the Free Land Camp - a kind of assembly that the indigenous movement has held annually since 2004 in Brasília - approved, this Wednesday (26), the drafting of a document in which they demand more attention from the Public Authorities to indigenous school education.

Written based on contributions from educators and leaders from various ethnic groups and different locations, the letter should be presented to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, probably on Friday (26), when Lula is expected to attend the closing of the event organized by the Articulation of Indigenous Peoples of Brazil (Apib). The expectation of the indigenous movement is that, on that occasion, the president will announce the homologation of new indigenous lands.

Copies of the document outlining the movement's main demands regarding the public provision of formal education for indigenous peoples will also be sent to the Minister of Education, Camilo Santana, and other members of the federal government, as well as to governors and mayors of cities where indigenous communities are present.

Among the main demands of the indigenous movement for this segment is the creation, within the Ministry of Education, of a secretariat entirely dedicated to indigenous school education. “It is not in our best interest to have indigenous teachers and administrators [working in] indigenous territories according to an anti-indigenous educational model that continues to colonize education and does not reinforce the project of each people,” argued Thiago Anacé, a pedagogue and member of the Organization of Indigenous Teachers of Ceará.

For the participants of the plenary session on indigenous education held this morning at the Free Land Camp, the creation of a special secretariat could institutionally contribute to streamlining the actions of the Public Authorities in response to a series of problems listed in the document, such as "the precariousness of indigenous school education and the infrastructure of indigenous schools"; "the devaluation of indigenous teachers" and the "weak implementation of public policies for indigenous school education in states and municipalities".

“In recent years, we have suffered many setbacks. The precariousness in indigenous schools has greatly increased; the selection processes for hiring indigenous teachers and paying these professionals are chaotic. That is why we are asking for a real return to the policy of indigenous school education. We are asking for help, for indigenous school education to be considered a priority,” commented Alva Rosa Tukano, from the Forum for Indigenous School Education, an entity that has been proposing the creation of a special secretariat since the transition between the Jair Bolsonaro government and Lula's inauguration.

Indigenous University

In the document approved this morning, participants of the Free Land Camp and members of entities working with indigenous school education reiterate their demand for the creation of a federal institution of higher education. In 2014, the topic motivated the then Minister of Education, Aloizio Mercadante, to establish a working group to "conduct studies on the creation of an intercultural indigenous higher education institution that promotes, through teaching, research and outreach, activities aimed at valuing the epistemological, cultural and linguistic heritage of indigenous peoples, considering their demands and needs."

The indigenous movement also demands that it be guaranteed a seat on the National Education Council; the resumption of the implementation of the so-called Ethno-educational Territories; the discussion or consolidation of a specific fund for indigenous school education - a kind of Maintenance and Development Fund (Fundeb) specific to the educational subsystem; the resumption of affirmative action policies for indigenous students; a policy to promote and research the indigenous languages ​​and dialects spoken in the country; and a guarantee that children and adolescents from disputed areas have access to indigenous education.

“Those of us who live in the reclaimed areas face great difficulties in implementing indigenous school education. In Mato Grosso do Sul alone, there are more than 150 disputed, undemarcated areas, and many of these communities do not even receive what is already guaranteed by the Federal Constitution. Therefore, we demand that the reclaimed areas be guaranteed the same treatment given to the officially recognized schools in indigenous villages. And that the same treatment be guaranteed to schools in urban villages that have not yet been officially recognized,” proposed Gilmar Veron, from the Mato Grosso do Sul Education Forum.