Maria Rita da Silva, professora leiga na década de 1970 em Cariús - Ceará

Abstract

The history of education is informed by teaching experiences over time, beyond legal documents. This article aims to chronicle Maria Rita da Silva's life, focusing on the educational issues that permeated her life during the 1970s, when this woman from the interior of Ceará gained access to basic education in the city of Cariús, Ceará. This is a qualitative study, methodologically developed based on oral history, following the principles of cultural history and hermeneutic biography. Thus, a free interview was conducted with Maria Rita da Silva, who served as an oral source for portraying the educational conditions in the interior of Ceará, more specifically in the Cariús region, in the south-central region of the state. The narratives paint a picture of a precarious education system, developed through the work of a lay teacher, who was also responsible for organizing the teaching space at a time when there was no public interest in education. Educational practices were aligned with traditional approaches, with the use of physical punishments such as the cane and the adoption of multiplication tables and the ABC chart as teaching materials, which were funded by the students' own parents. It can be concluded that Maria Rita da Silva's educational experiences are rich sources that enable broadening knowledge about educational conditions in the interior of Ceará, especially in Cariús and the Center-South region.