It was at the Governador Alexandre Zacarias Assunção public school, in the neighborhood of Guamá, on the outskirts of Belém (PA), that the Philosophy professor Manoel Ramos coordinated his first project within the Itinerários Amazônicos. The program provides free teaching material and training for high school educators, with the aim of bringing the Amazon in all its environmental, social, historical, cultural and economic complexity to schools. 

Set together pelthe teaching team of the humanities disciplines and those that make up the Natural Sciences, the project with the theme “Society, culture and the environment: combating the fake news in the construction of a sustainable society” was applied < /span>to the High School and Youth and Adult Education (EJA) classes. Together and in dialogue, the students walked the paths to raise awareness of their belonging to the Amazon.

The dynamics of the work involved three stages. In the first, students researched what fake news and its consequences for the population and the environment. Then, some went into the field and others checked the veracity of the news on the internet. In the end, the classes created two large panels which, with the exception of the photos, were constructed with recyclable materials collected around the school.

Dedicated to fake news, the first panel addressed narratives that seek to diminish or confuse understanding of issues such as illegal mining, deforestation , fires, invasion of indigenous lands, especially those of the Yanomami people, in addition to murders and persecution of those who try to preserve the region.

Presenting the reality of the facts, the second panel contradicted the narratives of the first about the environment and socioeconomics of the Amazon by bringing evidence the fight for sustainability, the regulatory framework, necessary public policies and the devastation of indigenous lands.

Beyond the school wall

In an interview with Concertação, professor Manoel reports that the most stimulating thing, in addition to the quality content, is that the program it is not a finished product, a closed route. On the contrary, “it opens the way to think about the development of the Amazon based on the territory and its people”. According to him, the proposal is innovative because it allows students to take the lead in their own learning, promoting a truly emancipatory education.

The teacher remembers that, from the beginning, the activity mobilized the majority of students. And as the project progressed, it also managed to attract a good number of those who had low attendance and were not used to engaging in school exercises. Emotional, he talks about the countless socioeconomic and family obstacles that these students, in particular, face.

According to Manoel, the change in classroom dynamics was impressive: “the students left that ‘banking education’ in that only the teacher speaks. They reversed this logic and began to build together with the teachers, who from then on were able to see how many skills, hidden abilities and their own identity emerged during the process.”

Professor Manoel assesses that the unprecedented positive role of the Amazon in pedagogical practice has enabled teachers, students and the community to develop a new look at the reality of its territory. A critical look at its predatory and exclusionary exploitation, which does not consider the existence of original and traditional peoples.

The success of the Zacarias Assunção School project made it an example of practice to be built in this new education model. Manoel says that, when he showed the students the video presented and praised by the Department of Education of the State of Pará (SEDUC-PA) and the Iungo Institute, it was remarkable to observe “the pleasure they felt when seeing the result of their actions going beyond from the school wall.”

The Amazon Itineraries program is carried out by the Iungo Institute, the Reúna Institute and the network Uma Concertação pela Amazônia , in partnership and with investments from BNDES, the Hydro Sustainability Fund, the Arapyaú Institute, from the Movimento Bem Maior and sponsorship from Vale.