O ensino religioso nas escolas públicas municipais da cidade de Santarém, Pará: práticas cotidianas dos agentes sociais do setor de ensino religioso escolar (SERE) (2003-2015)

Abstract

The aim of this research is to analyze the religious education in the municipal public schools of the city of Santarém (PA) between 2003 and 2015, based on the practice of the social agents of the Educational Sector of Religious Education (SERE). The academic and social relevance of the object of study of this dissertation is emphasized by the current political framework of intense discussions and direct attack to the principle of secularism in the country. This kind of attack, which is historically persistent, has escalated since the election of an extreme right-wing president in the year of 2018, who does not demonstrate any commitment to the secularism of our government. The given topic generates solid attempts of religious groups in the recent years and has engaged several researchers. That is the reason of the interest in understanding this situation, based on the educational reality of the city of Santarém. According to the bibliographical and documental investigation, it is possible to establish the historical construction around the secularism of the religious education and of the SERE. In order to analyze the oral sources we adopted the theoretical and methodological framework of the oral History, which epistemological dimension allows the researchers to work with the reminiscences of ordinary people who are important protagonists of History. The field research occurred on-site, during the months of November and December of 2021, and it relied on the participation of five supervisor professors and of the coordinator teacher of the SERE. In this regard, the research data revealed that the subject of religious education in local public schools has been linked to the history of the local Catholic Church in the last decades. It is also noticeable that the principle of secularism was completely disregarded, since a religious institution took precedence in the pedagogical treatment of the themes related to the religious education, to the detriment of other forms of religious expression.