Youth and adult education in the Quilombola communities:

implications and advantages of the acquisition of literacy

Abstract

This text arises from the research developed by Prog rama de Extensão Universitária: “Formação Docente e Políticas Educacionais para Quilombos: Continuidades e Perspectivas”, funded by MEC/SISU and executed by Faculdade de Educação of the Universidade Federal de Pelotas, in one of the activities of this Prog ram, we visited the members of communities residences in the municipalities of Canguçu, Pelotas, Piratini and São Lourenço do Sul, investigating the level of education of those people, the reason they have interrupted their studies , how they felt inside the school. This research is still in progress and as preliminary data it is possible to mention that most people over 60 did not attend the school , or if they were attended , they did not exceed the séries iniciais . In the
current generations , women are wh ose less time were in school and as the main reason indicate the family formation, and the  men, its maintenance. Among the varied responses we received , some of them stood out, showing how the people get educated in the informality as in the people testimo nials which have learned to read while when they were in the military service or reading the bible. It is interesting to analyze what relationship that people do about the acquisition of literacy and its application in their lives; what changes have occurred in their lives after they decipher the written code. To be meaningful , it is necessary to be an interactive process , where the school works about the student context, their histories and their interventions which can contribute, making some sense to them.