As Escolas Reunidas Pestalozzi na cidade de Juiz de Fora entre os anos de 1955 a 1979

Abstract

This study investigated the origins of the Escola Estadual Maria das Dores de Souza (EEMDS), previously Escolas Reunidas Pestalozzi (ERP) of Juiz de Fora (JF), Minas Gerais (MG), in order to understand how the articulations between education policies schooling of People with Disabilities (PcD) and the process of creation, organization and development of the JF/MG ERP, between the years 1955 and 1979 accurred. The methodology was based on the correlation of bibliographic, documentary and iconographic sources, which was divided into 6 moments, including visits to school institutions, archives and historical collections in order to locate sources that would provide answers to our questions. Among the documentary sources we rely on Law No. 7,790-A of 1927, the School Regulations (2014), the Pedagogical Political Project (2017, 2019), the Exercise Term Book (1956 to 1990), the Term Book Tenure (1955 to 2003), the students' Final Result Book (1957 to 1989) and the Occurrence Book (1961 to 1979). In addition to these documents, the history of the Pestalozzi Society of Juiz de Fora, iconographic sources, newspaper notes, sources from the Helena Antipoff Collection and the Pestalozzi Magazine (1957) were also investigated. For a better understanding of the school organization process, it should also be noted that the Final Result book (1957 to 1989) became a source of great relevance for research, as it allowed us to present how the JF/MG ERP was organized and how the institution's ranking process worked, through analysis of the classes that took partial and final tests. Theoretically, the research was based on Stuart Hall (2003), Maurice Halbwachs (1990), Maria Hilsdorf (2006), Marc Bloch (2001) for historical, social and cultural contextualization; regarding the schooling process of PcD, Giberta Jannuzzi (2012) and Romeu Sassaki (1997) were the most evident sources; and González Rey (2005), Pinsky (2008) and Paolo Nosella and Ester Buffa (2009) helped us in the methodological organization of the investigation. After analysis, as first evidence we identified that EEMDS, which was so named in 1980, originated from the ERP opened in JF in 1955, being the first Special Education (EE) institution in the city of JF/MG, created through of demands from a group of mothers of children with disabilities, inspired by the Sociedade Pestalozzi de MG (SPMG). Allied to this, public policies that were articulated between public power and philanthropy, in a historical and social context, became favorable in relation to EE, in a local scenario that was scarce in relation to PwD's access to welfare and institutionalized education. As a result, over a period of 24 years (1955 to 1979) the ERPs served around 2884 students with disabilities in a subject program and a flexible ranking process, with the aim of providing them with (as) training up to the 4th grade of elementary school. It is concluded that the JF/MG ERPs were created through articulations of school, philanthropic, public sector policies and the influence of members of the middle and upper classes, mostly women, in the midst of a national and state scenario favorable to education. On the other hand, in JF/MG there was a lack of assistance and schooling for PcD combined with engaged social actors who sought social status and who saw charity as a possibility of salvation. Among the various articulations, it stands out that the institution developed under the influence of LDB/1961 and LDB/1971, the second being of great importance, outlining, for example, the mandatory education of children aged 7 to 14 years, which may have caused an increase in the number of enrollees during the period investigated. The serial organization adapted to the particularities and needs of the students and the institution, that is, the program/curriculum presented by legislation was not followed to the letter. Thus, our data leads us to indicate that ERP was the first educational and welfare institution in the city of JF/MG that enabled access to education for PcD.