By MICHEL HOOG CHAUI DO VALE & NILCE ARAVECCHIA*

CIEPs were something exceptional in the country at that time: a full-time school for poor children who were massively concentrated in large urban centers.

The election of Leonel Brizola and Darcy Ribeiro

In May 1985 (more precisely on the 8th), Rio de Janeiro witnessed a historic event in the field of public education, which would remain etched in the memory and landscape of Rio from then on: the inauguration of the first Integrated Public Education Center – CIEP.

Forty years ago, the school complex, located in the Catete neighborhood, attracted attention for some notable characteristics. Its reinforced concrete buildings, which combined straight and curved lines, were designed by the greatest Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer, who was responsible for, among other feats, the creation of the new Brazilian capital.

Furthermore, the project had been completed in record time by using prefabrication technology in reinforced concrete. This solution was the means found to make possible the announced production of 500 full-time schools with capacity for 1000 students each – which would occur during the two administrations of Governor Leonel Brizola (1983-87 and 1991-94).

The proposal was part of an ambitious program by two figures historically linked to public education: Leonel Brizola and Darcy Ribeiro, elected governor and vice-governor in the first election of Brazil's redemocratization, which led the population to informally name the project “Brizolão”. In 1982, the duo made history with a successful government plan of unprecedented scale that simultaneously tackled some of our main historical problems: the consolidation of democracy, the reduction of inequalities and the promotion of quality public education.

The election of the PDT ticket revived, with the newly created party, the labor tradition inherited from Vargas and Jango's PTB, updated for the 1980s. It reaffirmed the principles of nationalism, sovereignty and development. It also incorporated contemporary causes related to minorities and the black and feminist movements – recalling the party militancy of Lélia Gonzales and Abdias do Nascimento, among many others.

It also represented the articulation of speeches and formulations by renowned leaders, brought together in the new group, in a work of mobilizing popular bases that worked to build a democratic government program for the state of Rio de Janeiro.

Educator politicians

The trajectories of the two elected leaders came together in the 1982 election campaign, but they were dependent on their political activities during the democratic period interrupted by the military coup of 1964. While Darcy Ribeiro was present in João Goulart's cabinet, Leonel Brizola, from Rio Grande do Sul, emerged as an important left-wing leader during his term as federal deputy for Rio de Janeiro. While in exile, both mobilized efforts to reorganize progressive sectors and rebuild democracy in the country. In the context of redemocratization, they realized their desire to reconnect their trajectories and struggles to Brazilian soil.

Since his acquaintance with educator Anísio Teixeira in the 1950s, former communist Darcy Ribeiro had redirected his academic interest to the issue of education. He established himself as an exponent of this cause by fighting for the viability of the University of Brasília in the new capital, presenting himself at the same time as a politician and an achiever, in addition to his initial work in the field of anthropology, diversifying his “skins” and expanding his “doings”, as he used to say.

Leonel Brizola, who began his political activity as a labor activist, since his time as mayor (1956-1958)  and later governor of Rio Grande do Sul (1959-1963), had combined development policies, agrarian reform and infrastructure with a program to build thousands of small prefabricated wooden schools, the so-called “brizoletas”, which spread throughout the state of Rio Grande do Sul, significantly expanding access to education.

Two great enthusiasts, equipped with a historical-critical view of the formation of Brazil and its challenges, converged in their trajectories to propose education as a means of transforming Brazilian society. The combination of an astute thought about the country and the desire for change present in both resulted in the program of the Rio government democratically elected in 1982, whose top priority was educational policy, systematized in the Special Education Program (PEE), whose main action would be a full-time comprehensive education school.

The CIEPs project

The CIEPs were born from an idea that, although not exactly original, was something exceptional in the country at that time: a full-time school for poor children who were concentrated in large urban centers. The precarious living conditions of the thousands of families in the favelas and outskirts were the result of the uncontrolled urbanization process and the persistence of extremely low income levels for the majority of the population.

In this context, the diagnosis indicated that public education was insufficient and inadequate for the working classes. The answer would be a school focused on working-class families that would care for children throughout the day, ensuring food and health through medical and dental treatment, in addition to personal hygiene. Its activities would be housed in a set of buildings for classrooms, a library and a covered gymnasium with changing rooms, whose volume should constitute an urban reference in the most varied contexts of implementation. The architecture, as a sign, should communicate the presence of the State and the strengthening of community relations, and invite the population to interact and identify with the public facility of the highest spatial and construction quality.

In addition to having a specific pedagogical project that considered the repertoire of these communities and prioritized literacy, the CIEP was designed to become a gregarious and welcoming space, while at the same time consolidating itself as a facility for practices that reinforced the cultural traits of the local population. To this end, the role of the cultural animator was created, who was generally recruited from the community itself and acted as a bridge between teaching and popular culture.

With this vision, CIEP became a school, a community center, a cultural center, a medical and dental clinic, a cafeteria, a community library, a home for vulnerable children, and a sports center for the entire neighborhood, open seven days a week. A school-home that was also a school-city in places where the State had either not been present or had only appeared as an oppressive force.

The architecture of CIEPs

The complex of buildings that formed the CIEP in the Catete neighborhood would be replicated in more than 500 locations throughout the state of Rio de Janeiro. Oscar Niemeyer's architectural design was distinguished by the use of prefabricated reinforced concrete pieces, stacked like a construction game. The three main buildings – the classroom building, the library and the gymnasium – would be organized according to the available land, generally provided by city governments, eager to welcome the Brizolões.

The capital and Baixada Fluminense, which concentrated the greatest demand, had their landscapes marked by numerous sets formed by three main volumes: the large three-story classroom block, with its characteristic rounded-corner windows; the octagonal library; and the covered multipurpose court, with its large “Y” beams supported by equally rounded porticos. In all cases, the different possible arrangements of the blocks created a very strong architectural presence, full of aesthetic surprises, as observed by the teacher and poet Eucanaã Ferraz, who began his professional career as a cultural animator at CIEP Nova Aurora, in Nova Iguaçu.

The production of CIEPs – legacy of a “tradition” of educator-thinkers

In addition to livening up the urban landscape and transforming the lives of thousands of students and low-income families throughout the state, the CIEPs (and the government's education program as a whole) were responsible for stimulating the economy in an impressive way. With the application of public resources in the order of 20 to 30% of the budget of Rio de Janeiro and Fluminense directed to the education item, part of this investment was made precisely in their construction. In addition to this dynamism with job creation, the program was responsible for the massive application of prefabricated construction technology, stimulating technical development and the expansion of research in the sector. It is no coincidence that the program was led by Faperj, under the general coordination of Vice-Governor Darcy.

While CIEPs were built by large construction companies with the technical and financial capacity to replicate the project developed by Oscar Niemeyer, isolated schools, community homes, children's homes and health clinics were made possible by another prefabricated system. These were hundreds of other smaller buildings made of reinforced mortar, a technique of slender pieces structured with thin metal screens, produced at the School Factory, a public facility maintained by the state.

The project was conceived by architect João Filgueiras Lima, known as Lelé, who was responsible for developing this technology on an industrial scale. The components would be applied in many areas of precarious urbanization, where large plots of land needed to build a CIEP were not available. Lelé, who had begun his career in Brasília and would later be recognized for his projects for public rehabilitation hospitals – the Sarah Network –, applied his expertise in precast lightweight production of urban equipment in Rio de Janeiro, which he had already tested in Salvador and Abadiânia.

Together, CIEPs and Fábrica de Escolas represented an unprecedented effort to expand the public school network with significant results that combined different productive approaches to the construction of buildings and public infrastructure, motivated by the enormous demand for education. They served as combined strategies that were not limited to reducing the deficit of places in the school network, but linked the massive construction of buildings to a clear purpose of technological development based on the production of cutting-edge architecture.

A development project that adopted economic planning techniques in the state territory, and that had as its principle and objective the reproductive dimension of workers' lives. Finally, by bringing together architects who had directly participated in a country project before 64, these public figures gave important signs that the national and modern identity had left indelible structures. But after 40 years, it is intriguing to think that it was implemented precisely in the 1980s, which would later be called "lost" by part of the intellectuals who analyzed the situation of debt in Latin American countries.

But if such a feat took place in the face of so many vicissitudes, it may perhaps be capable of being recovered at any time. Its remembrance is necessary not to repeat it as a farce, but to claim the inheritance of an obstinate intellectual construction, which took root for a longer period of time.

*Michel Chaui do Vale, architect and urban planner, he is a PhD student at Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism of the University of São Paulo (USP).

*Nilce Aravecchia Professor at the Faculty of Architecture and Urbanism at the University of São Paulo (USP).

Report of the 1st PDT Congress – contributions to cultural policy. Source: FUNDAR

Darcy Ribeiro on a poster for the campaign for state government. “Education is a matter of democracy.” Source: FUNDAR

Rio de Janeiro State Government leaflet: “Democracy is reborn among us”, [sd]. Source: FUNDAR

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