Singularidades do Grupo Escolar Dr. Fernando Alexandre em Ituiutaba/MG - 1965 a 1982

Abstract

This study, linked to the Graduate Program in Education (Professional Master’s) at the Federal University of Uberlândia (UFU), focuses on analyzing the historical contradictions between economic development and educational precariousness in Ituiutaba (MG), from 1965 to 1975, emphasizing the particularities of the Dr. Fernando Alexandre Primary School, located in Ituiutaba, Minas Gerais. The research emerged from the need to understand how, in a context of prosperity—when the municipality was known as the “Rice Capital”—high rates of illiteracy and poor conditions in public schools persisted. We question how the city’s economic and political rise could coexist with the establishment of a school built with temporary metal structures, symbolizing the social inequalities of that period.The general objective is to analyze the specific circumstances surrounding the creation and consolidation of the Dr. Fernando Alexandre Primary School, investigating the political, social, and educational motivations that guided its foundation and its effects on the literacy of the working classes. The specific objectives are to understand the contradictions between the military regime’s modernizing discourse and the actual school conditions; to preserve the institution’s historical memory; and to examine how educational policies, such as the MEC-USAID agreement and the “metal schools” campaign, were materialized.The methodology adopts a qualitative approach, using documentary analysis (minutes, photographs, records) and a critical-dialectical framework that connects national educational policies to the school’s daily life. The results indicate that, despite the apparent educational democratization, economic growth did not lead to significant advances, revealing how the regime’s authoritarian logic and insufficient investments perpetuated inequality and precariousness in public education.