Education, reading, poverty and illiteracy in a time of pandemic in Codó, Maranhão

Abstract

This article deals with education, reading, poverty and illiteracy in a time of pandemic in Codó, located in the state of Maranhão. The text is the result of observations made in the year 2020 from the beginning of the New Coronavirus pandemic, when the closure of state and municipal schools and the limitation of access to work by the popular strata made the conditions of poverty more evident municipality of Codó. To get into the central themes of this work, we start with a synoptic discussion about the bases for a democratic and quality education, where we highlight the importance of the 1988 Constitution, a benchmark for the democratization of the country, as well as of the school and, consequently, of the access to the reading of the word and the world by the students. Our interpretation of the importance of reading the world or social literacy is based on the analysis of Freire (1987, 1989), Street (1995) and Soares (2000, 2017) on the theme. The last analysis we carried out in the text is focused on poverty and illiteracy as chronic phenomena in our country, our state and, undeniably, in Codó. In this part, we interpret and highlight the data that show the permanent and historical relationship that exists between poverty and illiteracy, which still submits and excludes millions of Brazilians.