MG public school takes students on excursion to MST settlement

On one side is the CPI of the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) showing surprising reports from the organization about invasions, use of work analogous to slavery and supposed physical punishment, beatings and threats to indoctrinate its followers.

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On the other hand, there are public schools such as Fundação de Ensino de Contagem (Funec), in Minas Gerais, which take their students on guided tours to MST settlements for a “pedagogical excursion”. All paid for by the municipality.

According to the mother of a student from Funec Inconfidentes — one of the 10 units in the chain —, several buses were chartered by the city hall to take high school students to the Pastorinhas settlement, located in the city of Brumadinho. “These tours started last week, today they had it again and tomorrow they will also have it, each day with different groups”, she reported, saying that she was perplexed when she received the authorization document for the tour.

According to the text written in the authorization, the tour features a lecture by the settlement coordinator and aims to introduce students to topics such as the consequences of the mechanization of the countryside, the MST movement, the Brazilian policy of agrarian reform, impacts of mining and organized agriculture . “There will also be a walk around the surroundings to observe and recognize the history and reality of the settlement”, mentions the document sent to the parents about the 11-hour tour: from 6:30 am to 5:30 pm.

“I went to research what this Pastorinhas settlement was and found that it belonged to the MST”, reported the mother, when questioning why this tour was completely free and with lunch included, while excursions like the one to the Inhotim Institute, considered the largest museum under the sky open world, were paid by parents.

Upon learning about the tour, influencer and political activist Pedro Mariani tried to follow one of the excursions last Friday (25) and posted images on his social networks. In the video, he talks to teachers about the bus’s destination and asks parents and students if they know that the settlement he visited belongs to the MST.

“Do you think it’s right to take the children on a totally partisan outing?” he asks some people. “And shouldn’t the school be without a party?” asks the other, who replies “no, that doesn’t exist”.

According to Marin, the bus arrived at the settlement accompanied by two pickup trucks, and he was not allowed to enter the site.

Gazeta do Povo contacted the aforementioned school unit and the administration of the Funec network, but did not receive a response until the publication of this report.

What does Contagem City Hall say?

The Municipality of Contagem was also contacted by Gazeta do Povo and informed that the excursion was funded by the “Além dos Muros” Program, which provides financial support to pedagogical projects, educational and cultural itineraries, field work and other educational strategies presented by the school units. .

“In the case of the visit to the Pastorinhas Settlement, carried out by Funec Inconfidentes, the objective was to identify the power of knowledge and the infinite possibilities of being applied for the construction of a better and more balanced society, through the knowledge of new realities, the comparison of the space where we live with other spaces, the identification of the globalization process in practice, the recognition of the interference of the environment in our daily life and the perception of the possibilities of transforming the environment, as well as relating contents studied in the classroom with their applicability” , he informed in a note.