Sebastião Rocha

With seventy percent of the children out of school by second grade in
Minas Gerais, Sebastiao Rocha is demonstrating a new approach to educ
that children want to go to school even on Saturday and Sunday. "

Sebastiao is trying to create an educational atmosphere in which stude
school. "A school does not necessarily have to be in a physical space,
under a mango tree, " he says. The vital ingredient for education is a s
teacher and student. In Sebastiao's educational model, children are no
sheet for the teacher to impress upon. Sebastiao envisions more of a
between educator and pupil. "Education must be a two-way proc
communication and respect. "
s begins with the teacher
s. At the end of the day
and evaluates the results.
To build equality and mutual respect, each of Sebastiao's school prograin
and students sitting in a circle and discussing the day's proposed activitiie
they form the circle again and each person draws or writes what happened
ommunity involvement.
ycare centers located in
'
ed to run the centers and
Sebastiao's preschool, adolescent, and adult programs rely heavily on c
The preschool program, or "Little Seed", is essentially made up of da
people's homes in the community. Usually mothers and teenagers are tram
teach the children, mostly between the ages of four and six.
The school age and adolescent program called "To Be A Child" reit
extracurricular workshops on literature, writing, mathematics, culture,
toy-making. It also includes a toy library, or in Portuguese, a "brinqued0
children can study, create, or play with toys, which they can check out jus
book. There are also community workshops where, for example, ad
community health service. The program's students not only do not dro
learning and grades soar.
'es heavily on seemingly
as well as cooking and
teca. " It is a place where
t as they would a library
olescents get involved in
p out of school, but their
ds-on, engaging work.
g in the daily operations.
e bread and cookies and
state's capital city of Belo
Finally, in the adult program, the students' parents also learn through han
They help run the schools, either by training to be teachers or by helpin
They also learn while they earn by creating small businesses that bak
produce liqueurs made &om local fruits. (The liqueurs sell well in the
Horizonte. )

Sebastiao conducted a detailed survey of forty schools in his region of M
seventy percent of the children were not in school after the first grade, f
fifty percent figure. His area is a poor, isolated region. His town of 80, 0
paved roads only five years ago. Minas Gerais' educational failure is
Brazil and also in vast urban shanty towns.