From the Cartography of the Eraser to Statistical Disobedience: for a State policy with pedagogical justice in Countryside Schools in the Gaúcho Pampa

Abstract

This article problematizes the mismatch between the rigidity of official statistical categories and the ethnography of Countryside Schools in the Gaúcho Pampa territory. Governmental misunderstanding regarding peasant territoriality generates severe distortions in the School Census, whose biased data directly impact funding via FUNDEB and the formulation of pedagogical guidelines. This statistical invisibility reduces the student to a per capita cost, guiding public funding through a logic of urban economic development that ignores the specificity of peasant life. Methodologically, the study is based on the critical analysis of official statistical data combined with a literature review. In light of Milton Santos’ category of territory (space, people, and culture) and Paulo Freire’s “reading of the world”, a conceptual amalgam between the Territory of Pedagogy and the Pedagogy of the Territory is proposed. The work defends the urgency of transitioning from fragmented management to a State policy that recognizes the Countryside School not as a demographic datum, but as a pedagogical achievement and an inalienable right, promoting pedagogical justice.