Conditions of education in the interior of Ceará between 1936 and 1984 based on student memories

Abstract

This study is situated within the field of Education, specifically the sub-area of History of Education, as it highlights the memories of individuals involved with education in the last century, who recall their experiences as students. The objective was to investigate aspects of education in the interior of Ceará, Brazil, based on the narratives of former students of two rural teachers: Marieta Benício and Maria José de Sousa, who worked between 1936 and 1984 in Cascavel and Pacajus, respectively. It is anchored in the assumptions of Cultural History and, to meet this scope, oral history was used as a methodology, through which free interviews were conducted with former students of the two aforementioned rural teachers. The data infer that education in the interior of Ceará was marked by the absence of sufficient public investment, a high dropout rate due to the low financial conditions of students who could not reconcile studies with work, as well as inappropriate teaching methodologies. It can be concluded that regional inequalities plagued the territory of Ceará in terms of education, since the interior did not present the same teaching conditions, and differed greatly from the education developed in the capital, where there was greater investment and even the provision of Secondary Education, while in the interior, at most, there were Primary Education schools.