Paulo Freire Centenary, by Luísa Pollo – Handred

Paulo Freire (1921-1997) was one of the most important Brazilian pedagogues. Responsible for creating a new method of teaching, he changed the traditional view of knowledge transferal that passed from the teacher to the student and proposed a dialogue between educator and educated; with learning related to the daily needs of students.

In 1963, along with other educators, Freire created the Literacy Plan. In 40 hours, they managed to teach 300 people to read and write, all workers from local sugarcane plantations in the city of Angico (RN). To illustrate the Literacy Plan Culture Sheets, Ariano Suassuna, Freire’s friend, recommended Francisco Brennand, an “erudite artist” who engaged in popular painting. With simple strokes and striking contours, Brennand created 116 slides of images close to the people, bringing forth anecdotal elements that represented day-to-day scenes. Plant and animal figures, workers and their tools introduced generative words and the unfolding of these generated the formation of new words and small sentences, which resulted in a new series by Brennand titled the “Paulo Freire Series”.

The Literacy Plan was carried out by the João Goulart government but was interrupted with the beginning of the Military Dictatorship in 1964. In dictatorships, it is never desirable to educate the people, as education is a practice of freedom, referencing the title of a book by Paulo Freire from 1967.

The education proposed by Paulo Freire happens through dialogue with the aim of providing independence to the student. The student’s prior knowledge is valued through exchange, with both educator and educated acquiring new tools for critical, ethical and independent thought. As Brazilians, we must be proud and celebrate the centenary of this important name in our intellectual, cultural, political and popular formation.

by Luísa Pollo