Pioneering project in AM, the Forest School combines new technologies with sustainable practices

Marcela Leiros – From Cenarium

MANAUS (AM) – “It’s been very rewarding for each of us. For each student, especially for me as I’m a mother, right, and I’m also a student, my husband, my children and the other children who are also going to study at this school”. Aurinéias Bernardes’ statement represents the feelings of the residents of the Uatumã Sustainable Development Reserve (RDS), 247 kilometers from Manaus (AM).

On Tuesday 16th, the José Loureiro da Silva State Forest School (EEF) was inaugurated there, a pioneering teaching model by the Amazonas government that combines new technologies with sustainable practices. The project is an initiative that will serve 200 students from the preservation area, with content focused on sustainability, as explained by the governor of the state, Wilson Lima (União Brasil).

“We have the regular content, for example, math, Portuguese, geography, history, but all of it focuses on the issue of sustainability. Here we are also implementing an entrepreneurship activity and in this school specifically we are going to implement an activity to produce honey from bees and stingless bees. This is important because the children can replicate this activity in their homes and also supplement the family’s income”, he said.

Aurinéia is one of the students at Escola da Floresta. She, along with her husband and the couple’s nine children, will study at the new school, which has classrooms, reading rooms, multipurpose rooms and rooms for teachers; as well as a canteen, robotics laboratory (maker space); accommodation for teachers and students, toilets and other school facilities, such as a secretariat, pantry, kitchen and storage room.

Aurinéia and her husband will take part in the Youth and Adult Education (EJA) program, which will also be offered at the school.

“Before, it was difficult for us to go to school, because there was only one in the municipality. And when I finished ninth grade, I had to go to the city to study the first, second and third years of high school. Not now, with this school here, it’s made it easier for us to study not only in this community, but in the surrounding communities too”, she said.

The investment in the first Forest School was approximately R$5 million. The unit has capacity for 200 students, 100 full-time and 100 in the evening.

Pedagogical project

Another seven schools are due to be inaugurated in the state’s countryside: Presidente Figueiredo, Beruri, Canutama, Tapauá, Borba, Novo Aripuanã and Manicoré. The pedagogical project is developed by the State Secretariat for Education and School Sport, taking into account the socio-economic characteristics of each location.

“Specifically this one, we’ll be looking at the preservation of the environment, all this tourism stuff, the issue of fishing and all this work that the Department of Education is going to do to strengthen what the community already has, but bringing something to the community that will help them in the work they’ll have to do on this issue of balance with the environment and the activities that will be carried out here”, explained the Secretary of Education, Arlete Mendonça.

Tribute

The Forest School is named after José Loureiro da Silva, a former resident of the Bom Jesus do Angelim community. He always contributed with activities for the development of families in the area, until his death in 2022. The land on which the school stands was donated by his family.

José’s daughter-in-law, Livane da Silva Pires, has lived in the community for 24 years and is now a teacher at the Escola da Floresta. She is looking forward to seeing her pupils studying there.

“I hope that many other things, blessings, happen in this place and I, as a teacher, guarantee and promise everyone that I work for love and I’m here giving of myself, doing everything so that this project can happen and that it can flow here in our community”, she shared.

Read more: Morada do Peixe restaurant deforests preservation area in Manaus

Edited by Adrisa De Góes
Translated by Bruno Sena