Educational Sector of the Landless Movement (MST) in Paraná

The project’s objective is to strengthen the campaign to protect and defend the rights of children and adolescents living in the Landless Movement’s encampments in Paraná. The initiative ought to benefit nearly 12,000 school-age children and adolescent, who are vulnerable and at-risk, through raising families’ awareness about the rights of children and subsidizing theoretical and practical information to aid in negotiations and demands to public authorities.

– Holding a “Fight against Violations of Landless Children’s Right to Education Seminar,” with participation of educational leaders to spread this information throughout encampment communities.

– Production of didactic materials and pamphlets to support the training of leaders and families.

– Workshops and mobilizations aiming to spread awareness of the right to education as the prerogative of citizenship.

The project grows out of concern over the continual violation of the right to education that children of the encampments have suffered. In Paraná there are nearly five thousand Landless families, divided amongst 67 encampments located in 35 municipalities, on occupations of large rural plantations. In these locations there are around 12,000 children between 3 and 14 years of age, according to Incra data.

According to information from the MEC released in 2012, around 23,000 rural schools have been closed. They estimate that at least 230 children and adolescents in encampments in Paraná are not in any school. These numbers are greater if the numbers of dropouts and failed students are added, which reaches nearly 3,000 children and adolescents, a reflection of the difficult access and transportation issues. Agricultural work is another activity that ends up removing children from school, since besides harming their health and physical well-being, at times these kids cannot keep up with their classmates and give up altogether. In other cases, there is the pressure of their own parents, who prefer they continue helping out in the field.

The Educational Sector of the MST is a collective composed of leaders and educators from the encampments and settlements, responsible within the MST for leading the struggle for access to free, quality, public education at all levels for the population of the encampments. Connected to the organization of the MST, it is an important mobilizing agent in the promotion of change in the perspectives of guaranteeing the rights of children and adolescents of Landless families, and to that end, it develops its campaign for education allied with the struggle for access to land, understanding education as access to knowledge and the development of human potential.

The Educational Sector of the MST is affiliated with the National Campaign for the Right to Education and the Paraná Network for Education in the Field.