The role of rural union movements in facing the closure of rural schools in the Entre Rios Territory

Between sutures and silencing, a voice of resistance

Abstract

This study presents data and reflections on the struggle of rural union movements against the closure of rural schools in the Entre Rios Territory, located in the north-central region of Piauí. The general objective was to analyze how rural union movements have been fighting to contain the closing of rural schools in the Territory of Entre Ríos. A quantitative-qualitative research was carried out, using as data production instruments a questionnaire that was answered by 18 leaders of rural workers' unions in the Territory of Entre Ríos; as well as informal conversations with the same subjects, during their visits to the Federation of Family Members of Rural Agricultural Workers (FETAG) of the State of Piauí (FETAG), in the second half of 2021. The results indicate that, in the last ten years, 25,023 schools were closed in Brazil, with 2,315 located in Piauí. Specifically in the Entre Ríos Territory, 336 schools were closed between 2010 and 2020, that is, 48.63% in ten years. Despite all the struggles carried out by union movements, the indiscriminate closing of rural schools remains a great challenge, a movement to suture and silence the needs of rural populations. The process of nucleation/closing of schools is part of a neoliberal ideology, structured under the logic of cost/benefit and competitive meritocracy. For a better success in the claim and mobilization processes, the leaders of the rural union movements act as a voice of resistance and, therefore, they must know better the legal guidelines that meet the closing of rural schools, as well as they must mobilize other segments in institutions such as Public Ministry, Public Defender's Office, City Council, Churches and other social movements, to strengthen the struggles for education in the countryside and in the countryside.