Casaro Nascimento, Adir

Educational Programs for Indigenous Peoples of Brazil

She has also been involved in a number of projects relating to general issues of indigenous education and ethics in research and has served on various committees; however, she is most often recognized for designing and implementing the Guarani courses on aboriginal education to educate teachers about working with aboriginal students. She sees this work as a way to empower women while improving educational experiences for aboriginal students and allowing them to continue to embrace their own cultures after entering greater society. Because agricultural classes are regularly taught in secondary schools in Brazil, she has also promoted the practice of teaching students agricultural methods that serve to protect the environment. Since 2006, agroecology has been taught at the secondary level with the intention of encouraging students to share their newly acquired knowledge with others and promote the concept of food security in Brazil, thus providing many aboriginals with the tools for ending the cycle of dependence on government handouts that have supported them for generations.

More than 50 percent of Brazilian aboriginals live in poverty. Their homelands have often been taken over to provide agricultural, mining, and development resources for the majority population. As a result, the aboriginal people often lack access to basic [Page 229]necessities such as healthcare and educational opportunities. Aboriginal leaders blame the government for failing to fulfill its promise of providing aboriginal children with intercultural and bilingual education as stipulated under the Directives for a National Policy of Indigenous Scholastic Education. Under pressure from Adir Casaro Nascimento and other reformers, the government agreed in 2008 to add facilities to educate an additional 19,000 aboriginal students to supplement the 2,332 schools for 165,000 students now in existence.

As part of the Guarani curriculum developed by Adir Casaro Nascimento, for the first two years, students are taught entirely in Guarani. The switch to being taught entirely in Portuguese, Brazil's official language, is made gradually. The curriculum also provides for discussions on regional geography in which aboriginal students interact with community elders. In 2006 at Don Bosco Catholic University, Adir Casaro Nascimento introduced Teko Arandú, which means “Living in Wisdom.” It is a five-year training course designed to provide technical assistance to the predominately female student body. As a result of the efforts of Adir Casaro Nascimento and other reformers, the number of aboriginal students in Brazilian schools has increased dramatically.

...