COMPREHENSIVE EDUCATION AND DEMOCRACY: ANÍSIO TEIXEIRA'S CONTRIBUTIONS TO BRAZILIAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND THE CONTRADICTIONS OF THE CURRENT CONTEXT

Abstract

This theoretical article will explore the connections between Anísio Teixeira's contributions and thoughts on the construction of the Brazilian public school system and the current context of full-time education, aiming to understand its potential and limitations for school inclusion and the evolution of educational thought. Anísio Teixeira, a Brazilian educator and thinker, was born in the city of Caetité, Bahia, and lived between 1900 and 1971. Founder of the so-called New School movement, he was one of the main exponents of the Manifesto of the Pioneers of Education, initiated in 1932. The movement was based on the defense of democratic teaching and education as a right for all and a duty of the State, not merely a privilege of the elite. He paved the way for the creation of the National Education Plan (PNE), which includes among its goals the defense of comprehensive education. Anísio Teixeira was the Secretary of Education and Health for the State of Bahia when he began to conceive of a project that would only be completed many years after the Escola Parque in Salvador. In his historical legacy, Anísio Teixeira's life trajectory was focused on building an educational system that would enable social transformation and, fundamentally, the construction of a more just, egalitarian, and democratic society. In 1964, in the context of the military coup, Anísio Teixeira was harshly persecuted because of his democratic and libertarian ideas. On March 11, 1971, he was found in an elevator shaft in Rio de Janeiro under suspicious circumstances, an episode that remains unclear to this day, with the most likely explanation being that he was murdered by the military regime. One of the important movements in which Anísio Teixeira participated was the Pioneers of Education. This movement marked the agenda of Brazilian education, with its first milestone being the launch of a document in the country, called the Manifesto of the Pioneers of Education, in 1932, during the Vargas Era. In the document, they advocated for universal, secular, free, and high-quality public education. They aimed for the construction of a co-educational school model, bringing together girls and boys. They criticized the idea that school is not a place for catechism. On the contrary, it is a place to present this variety and diversity of thought and inclusion. The following pages will explore the debate put forth by Anísio Teixeira, who advocates for a school model integrated into its community, serving as an instrument for social transformation and the construction of a more just and egalitarian society.