Student Protagonism in rural high schools: an experience from Ceará

Abstract

The article aims to investigate how three schools in the interior of Ceará, which serve students from rural locations, have stimulated the development of citizenship and student protagonism. The research has as theoretical and methodological foundations the interpretive paradigm, the qualitative approach, of exploratory type as to the objective and applied as to the nature. The method was a multiple case study, using semi-structured interviews with managers, teachers, and students. A bibliographic research was also carried out to dialogue with the field findings. The results obtained were worked from the content analysis and it was found that although the conditions of access to education are ensured, the conditions of students' attendance are permeated by various difficulties, from the physical infrastructure of the buildings, school transportation, teachers, and that the conditions of the external context associated with social and economic limitations hinder the ability to choose the young people's school path. It was observed that schools promote a series of actions in order to mobilize students and provide spaces that favor protagonist attitudes on their part, stimulating the exercise of citizenship and youth protagonism. However, the situations observed in the three schools that serve the rural population show that the public authorities, despite their efforts, are not able to ensure the reduction of inequalities and the fulfillment of constitutional precepts in guaranteeing the right to quality education.