In Espírito Santo, reports
of transforming experiences
Espírito Santo was the most fertile state for the growth of the
project for Education in Human Values. The first experiment
occurred in the public education system in various towns in
the State. With little delay, EVH and its properties advanced,
won new spaces, gained supporters. With the help of Judge
Sérgio Bizzotto Pessoa de Mendonça, President of the State
Justice Tribunal, three training sessions were carried out on
August 22 and 29, and September 5, 2014, for staff and
magistrates. In each session, the course lasted eight hours, and
was conducted by professor Gonçalo Medeiros, graduate in
Philosophy at the Rio de Janeiro State University (Uerj),
founder and director of the Institute of Education in Human
Values.
But this was not the first time they heard about EHV. On May
18, 2012, Gonçalo had already given the lecture at the TJ-ES.
On that occasion, the event was organized by judge Catharina
Maria Novaes Barcellos, supervisor of Infancy and Youth at the
Tribunal, where staff are involved daily with children and
adolescents, victims of mistreatment. For this very reason, they
run the risk inherent in becoming accustomed to reports of
violence. The focus of the action, in this case, as the professor
explained, was also to promote the humanization of Justice.
“We cannot become anesthetized over time. Every day we
have to remind ourselves of our ideals, our will and capacity for
helping the needy”, emphasized the Tribunal President at the
time, Judge Pedro Valls Feu Rosa.
From September 4 to 6 it was the turn of the Espírito Santo
State Public Prosecutor to host the Course in Education in
Human Values. Besides presenting the methodology of
teaching and training those involved in promoting
humanization of relations, the aim was to make people
conscious of the internal antagonisms that prejudice the
identification, control and resolution of conflicts, i.e. to help
staff and magistrates to perceive human values – to help them
see beyond what is determined by the cold letter of the law or
what already exists in established jurisprudence. As in the case
of the Tribunal, the activities developed met with great
receptivity among the members of the Public Prosecutor’s
Office.
The course held in September 2013, lasting three days, and was
a natural follow-up to Gonçalo Medeiros’ first visit to the MP-
ES in 2011, when he took part as lecturer of the 3rd State
Encounter of Community Development – “Sharing is the
Evolution of Citizenship', held in Vitória, state capital. He was
also there on February 1, 2013, for a lecture which was part of
the program for the Center for Studies and Functional
Improvement (Centro de Estudos e Aperfeiçoamento
Funcional), the objective of which was to motivate, integrate
and contribute towards the development of a culture of human
values in work relations.
All these actions resulted in a major novelty, announced in
August 2014. On the 13th of the month, the State Government,
through the Secretary of State for Education (Sedu), and the
company Migliori Consultoria Ltda, signed a Term of Technical
Cooperation for the implementation of the project "Education
in Values, Human Development and a Culture of Peace" in all
state public schools. In the words of the attorney general Eder
Pontes da Silva “I appreciate the confidence of the partners in
the Public Prosecutor’s office. The project arrived victorious,
transforming, and will expand much more. The institutions
must be united, but we need to remember that education is
not only the job of the government. The family must also be
present”.
He praised the results obtained by the program in its first
project, in the municipality of Serra, saying “The Public
Prosecutor’s Office has provided a venue for the transforming
project. The results are evident and easy to measure. We just
have to thank, first of all professor Gonçalo, for once again
strengthening this link with this wonderful project, and
secondly Dr Fabíula, for leading the process here in the
institution. Without doubt, it is the gateway to the solution of
immense social problems we are experiencing – the crisis in
education. The program projects the idea of redeeming values
we have stopped cultivating, such as justice, truth, ethics, love
and solidarity”.
Quoted by the Attorney General, Fabíula de Paula Secchin,
prosecutor and director of Cape (Center for Operational
support for Implementation of Educational Policies),
enthusiastically highlighted the importance of promoting EHV.
“The state and the municipalities invest heavily in the technical
training of teachers. This project has the potential to go beyond
this. It seeks awareness of the real values that should move the
human being. It is not enough to seek professional
qualification... what is needed is to invest in indispensable
lessons for the effective formation of the citizen, aimed at the
practice of good."
Currently, 30 municipal schools in Greater Vitória take part in
the program. With the signing of the Term of Cooperation,
Sedu will make available new units of the state network to
function as pilots for the project. “The school can’t manage
alone. It needs external help to make this work possible”,
explained Klinger Marcos Barbosa Alves, Secretary of State for
Education. Action will be developed through integration of the
EHV values with school curricula and political-pedagogical
projects, with the promotion of transforming practices from
experience and techniques that enable the formation of
character – from values such as truth, correct action, peace,
love and non-violence. These are the five key-words of EHV.
Many other activities have already taken place in Espírito
Santo. On November 22, 2011, for example, the first Seminar of
Education in Human Values was held in the municipality of
Serra, organized by the Town Hall and ArcelorMittal, with the
seal and participation of Unesco, the arm of the United Nations
for education, science and culture. Besides the mayor and the
Serra Secretary of Education, the State Governor, Renato
Casagrande, and Paolo Fontani, Coordinator of Education for
Unesco, were present. That same year, in the same town, in
the months of March and April, activities took place in
municipal schools, involving 1,210 civil servants (the majority
teachers) and 12,503 students. In September 2012, Gonçalo
took part in the training of socio-educational agents,
technicians, sub-managers and coordinators of IASES (Instituto
de Atendimento Sócio-Educativo do ES), also in Serra. On
March 1st, 2013, he was one of the lecturers at the State
Education Encounter, held in the state capital, by MEC and the
Public Prosecutor’s Office.
Wherever it goes, EHV leaves its marks – and surprises. In
August 2009, application of the program started, still in pilot
format, in three schools in Serra: in the Escola de Ensino
Fundamental (EMEF) Julite Miranda Freitas, in Nova Almeida; in
the Jacaraípe EMEF, in the same borough; and in the Centro
Municipal de Educação Infantil (CMEI) Professora Maria José do
Nascimento, in São Domingos. Around 1,700 children had their
first contact with the new philosophy of learning, without any
alteration to the basic content of the curricula. The cultivation
of good had started, and the first harvest was not long in
appearing. “Before, the children ran around a lot during break.
They bumped into each other and didn’t apologize. There was
confusion at meal times, with lots of pushing and shoving.
Anything could cause a fight, children hitting each other. But
since we implemented the use of books, music and meditation,
everything got better”, reports director Deoclécia Puffal, of the
Jacaraípe EMEF, where there was a reduction of 90% in the
number of cases of warnings for bad behavior.
At the same place, teacher Marayzes Nascimento reveals that
immediately the change in the behavior of students caused an
improvement in the results of the whole class of 3rd grade in
grade school (ensino fundamental). "This is clear. They would
arrive agitated, running and fighting. As of the start of this work
of transmission of human values, they started to concentrate
more. There was a definite jump in performance. In just three
months of activities it was possible to see these advances.
They are also much more friendly and caring. The truth is they
are closer to us”. The hope of parents and educators is that,
once expanded to the whole network, the project will alter the
social structure not only in Serra, the neighboring town to the
capital of the state. Part of the so-called Greater Vitória, the
town has a population of around 460,000, and has some of the
highest rates of violence in Espírito Santo. "With the teacher
we learned only good things. This is better than learning things
we shouldn’t. Before the introduction of these novelties, even
the games we played were linked to violence. Now we have a
new school”, revealed one of the pupils, when questioned on
the impact of the project.
And so EHV made large steps among the Capixabas. Besides the
capital Vitória and Serra, Other towns were included such as
Cachoeiro de Itapemirim, Linhares, Montanha and Rio Bananal.
With the expansion of the project to the whole network of
state schools, EHV will give results in all corners of the State.
The following chapters show how the project is taking root all
over the country. Soon new challenges and novelties will
appear on the horizon. There are no frontiers or barriers to the
propagation of Human Values. There is much of Brazil still to
cover.