A descentralização política, administrativa e educacional: análise da organização da instrução pública a partir da Câmara Municipal de Juiz de Fora, Minas Gerais, 1889 -1915

Abstract

This is an investigation inserted in the studies of the History of Education in Brazil, developed in the History and Historiography of Education Research Line of the Graduate Program in Education at the Federal University of Uberlândia. In general terms, it deals with the process of organizing public education observed in the municipality of Juiz de Fora - MG, in the early years of the Republic (1889-1915). Through the analysis of local characteristics, it aims to broaden the understanding of the schooling process that took place at the dawn of the Republic, in Minas Gerais and in Brazil. At the beginning of the republican period, especially with regard to the state of Minas Gerais, made possible by a context of decentralization (political, administrative and educational) that allowed their protagonism, the municipalities, through proposals and actions of the Municipal Councils, ended up configuring educational realities with their own contours, assuming themselves as territories and promoting education in various ways. In this sense, based on the theoretical framework and documentary data, it was possible to affirm that, at that time, the municipality of Juiz de Fora was constituted, not only as a political-administrative territory, but also as a pedagogical instance: idealizing and acting in public education, giving shape to its own educational offer, thus configuring itself as a “pedagogical municipality”. The following sources were used: Minutes of the City Council; Minutes of School Exams; Correspondence; Enrollment and Frequency Maps; Payment Receipts; Teaching Inspection Reports; and Resolution Books. The municipal documents allowed us to identify that the Municipality of Juiz de Fora was directly and in different ways involved with education: creating schools; hiring and remunerating teachers; subsidizing educational establishments; taking responsibility for the costs of school buildings; supplying schools with furniture and school supplies; mobilizing for secondary education; allocating funds from its budget to finance education; and inspecting municipal education. This allows us to affirm the existence of schooling specific to the municipality: designed, carried out, financed and even inspected by the City Council. However, the schooling resulting from this set of initiatives was still marked by contradictions and deficiencies of various kinds, and by a state of disorganization and precariousness. The amounts allocated to education varied according to the municipality's budget availability, and it was found that local education was hampered by the scarcity of funds. The educational opportunities available in the municipality still fell short of the local demand for instruction. Municipal schools suffered from the lack of furniture and school supplies, school buildings were precarious, and teachers were poorly paid. And municipal education, in addition to being very simple and limited, still had little result. In this way, the process of organizing public instruction that took place locally, within the scope of the municipality, must be understood by articulating these two conceptions: the local power idealized and carried out in terms of education, however, it is necessary to recognize the limits of educational action municipal education, the shortcomings and contradictions that characterized the local educational offer. At the end of the reflections, we believe that it has been demonstrated that the analysis of the local reality contributes to the understanding of the general picture, leading us to rethink the issue, directing our gaze to the role played by municipalities and municipal councils in the organization of public education during the first republican years.