A trajetória da Educação escolar em Palmeira dos Índios/AL, ontem e hoje: o caso do Colégio Estadual Humberto Mendes

Abstract

This study follows the evolution of literacy in Palmeira dos Índios from its introduction to its peak with the foundation and first two decades of operation of the Colégio Estadual Humberto Mendes (1960-1980). The starting point for the research is the arrival of Fray Domingos de São José, an envoy of the Dioceses of Olinda/Recife to the Agreste with the mission of introducing the tenets of European culture in the lives of the native-American population through the religious teaching of the Catholic Church. The Fray’s Indian Missions, working out the peace between natives and European settlers and land-owners established a strong Catholic presence in the social and political life of the new community as well as the characteristically religious input of the schooling to be pursued thereof. So, this essay undertakes a systematic discussion of the evolution of private as well as public schooling in Palmeira dos Índios in its various stages of development: the first publicly-assigned teacher to arrive at the village, the expansion of Chairs and chair holders, the foundation of the first public high school, in 1932, the foundation of the two local Catholic high schools in the 1940’s, up to the foundation of the first Lyceum in the 1960’s. Assuming this historical approach to the evolution of literacy in Palmeria dos Índios as its cornerstone this study strives to understand the logic that presided the instruction of the local population, especially in the second half of the 20th century, taking as primary reference to our reading the administrative and pedagogical evolution of the Colégio Estadual Humberto Mendes up until the 1980’s, when, according to the interviews made, the school started to decline to the poor conditions where the local public instruction, unfortunately, lies today.