LIMA, R. X.; LIMA, Renata Xavier de.
Résumé:
This paper discusses the Rural Education as a national educational policy specific to the
population of rural areas. This type of education was born in the context of the struggles of
rural social movements and, from the decade of 1990, entered into projects and government
education programs. However, it was only on November 4, 2010 that the policy for rural
education had, indeed, a breakthrough, with the approval of Decree n ° 7352/2010. To
understand this issue, we turn to the question of Brazilian agrarian space which, historically,
was the stage of disputes that reflected directly in the education of the rural population. On
one side, those who longed for an education with emancipatory character – rural social
movements – and on the other side, those who diffused an education based on capitalist
profiles because of a supposed progress in this space – the landowners and agribusiness. In
this paper, we analyze the reasons for discrepancies between what is guaranteed by law and
what actually exists in education concerning the rural population. We also seek to understand
how education has come to this population, analyzing if, in terms of methodologies and
content, the place of the student has been incorporated into the teaching of Geography and,
consequently, if its diversity and identity have been respected/valued or replaced by standards
imposed by the dominant culture, based on the capitalist mode of life. As empirical cut of the
research, we chose the reality of the municipality of Seridó-PB, taking as a basis the Antônio
Lourenço da Silva Municipal School, situated on the site Fortuna. To achieve the proposed
objectives, the methodology used was the review of the literature about the Rural Education,
the place, the teaching of Geography, identity and diversity, as well as research on specific
legislation on this education modality. Furthermore, we undertook field research, in which,
with the utilization of semi-structured questionnaire, we realized interviews in the Secretary
of Education of the city and with the teachers of EMEF Antonio Lourenco da Silva. On the
other hand, due to the characteristics of the studied phenomenon, we chose as approach of it
the qualitative research perspective. At the end, in terms of methodologies and content of
Geography, we found that there are different proposals for the countryside of those applied in
the education in urban area, but, if we take into account the established guidelines by law, it is
still far from being the ideal for the rural population regarding the approach of the place of the
student and, therefore, the diversity and identity of them.