victories of the military schools of RR

Studying at Colégio Estadual Professor Severino Cavalcante, in Roraima, was synonymous with fear. According to Major Gibton D’Andrade, current director of the educational institution, “the unit was known as the most violent school in the state, with daily reports of extreme violence”, reports the administrator, citing frequent robberies and thefts within the school. institution, drug trafficking, sexual abuse of minors and co-option of students for criminal organizations such as PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital).

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However, the situation changed after the community approved the institution’s entry into the militarized state schools program, which has existed in Roraima since 2012 and currently has 33 schools. “We started to have security in the school environment and to see respect between students and teachers”.

According to him, the transformation occurred when the military made changes in the school’s routine in search of discipline. “Denunciations drastically reduced, and we immediately noticed the strong withdrawal of the criminal organizations that operated here”, informs the major, pointing out that the entire surroundings of the school in the city of Boa Vista noticed the difference. “The school community expressed itself about this in parent-teacher meetings”.

Support from parents and guardians also increased after the militarization of the school. According to the major, the educational model in partnership with the Fire Department and the Military Police brings families closer to the educational institution since “parents are frequently notified about their children” and become more active in their student development.

The result of this partnership between the community, the military and the pedagogical team reflects on student learning. “Here the passing average, for example, is 70, but students with an annual average of 80 points are promoted to posts and grades in the school battalion”, informs the director. “And those who reach 85 or more receive the Alamar Award, an award received by around 300 students every two months”, he adds.

In addition, D’Andrade explains that the school’s rules include behavior, citizenship and attendance criteria that are important for personal development, and that the institution also offers after-school activities, such as children’s and youth musicalization classes — band and fanfare —, classes of sports, instructions of united order and other actions with the aid of the military. “Changes that started just over a year ago, since the militarization of our school in July 2022, but which have already shown effectiveness”, guarantees the major.

Militarized schools in Roraima are “excellent educational option”

The situation of schools is similar throughout the network. According to José de Souza, assistant secretary for coordinating Roraima’s militarized schools, implementation of the program began in 2012 with the choice of Colegio Estadual Cel. PM Derly Luiz Vieira Borges as the project’s pioneer.

“Based on it, we realized that the state military school model would be an educational option of excellence”, says the manager, stating that the institution obtained the best grades in the entire North Region in the Basic Education Assessment System (SAEB) in 2015 and 2019.

The results drew the attention of other institutions in the state and another 32 schools entered the program by 2022 with an “average percentage of 95% of the community in favor of renaming”, comments the manager, recalling that these places faced serious problems related to “use of drugs, cold weapons, disrespect for teachers and public servants, and learning levels far below the established targets”.

However, the change in the educational model brought security and improvement in learning because “discipline in the classroom allowed teachers more time in their classes and more attention from students to the topics”, explained the manager, citing as an example the increase in by almost 1.0 point on the average obtained by secondary education in the Basic Education Development Index (Ideb) – an indicator used to measure the quality of a teaching network. The school average was 3.1 before militarization and has increased to 4.0.

“We also saw a significant reduction in evasion and repetition, a considerable improvement in discipline, in the image of the school in the local community, and a reduction in the use of drugs and cold weapons”, points out the manager, adding that Roraima plans to militarize three other institutions until the end 2023 in the cities of São João da Baliza, Caroebe and Uiramutã.

In addition, the Fagundes Varela Civic-Military College, which followed the federal model ended by the government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), will also be part of the state project at the request of the community. After all, “parents support the model because they want to prepare their children to exercise citizenship and face the world of work”, concludes the secretary.