Dona Maria Odila, manager of the Rural Family House of Santarém, in western Pará, sums up in one sentence what she expects from each class that passes through the school: "My dream is that young people leave here having their own businesses, their own productions, making a difference in their communities." This dream takes shape in the school's routine, where students alternate periods in the classroom with periods on the family property, where they apply what they have learned, test ideas, and assume responsibilities within the community. This way of teaching, the Pedagogy of Alternation, organizes the daily life of the Family Educational Centers for Alternating Training (CEFFAs), community schools maintained by family associations that for decades have been training young producers and leaders in the fields, forests, and waters of the Amazon.
Despite this trajectory, schools still appear in a fragmented way in official statistics and are underrepresented on public agendas. To fill this gap, Interelos, with support from the Banco do Brasil Foundation, conducted the Panorama of CEFFAs in the Legal Amazon. The survey involved 79 schools in 48 municipalities across eight states, cross-referenced data from the 2024 School Census with a questionnaire answered by administrators, and consulted federations, networks, and experts.
Panorama is part of the project "Rural Education as a Vector of Sustainable Development in Amazonian Territories," which Interelos develops in partnership with the Banco do Brasil Foundation. The project stems from the conviction that rural schools are one of the foundations for the development of these territories and is organized into three complementary fronts. The first is Panorama itself, which produces knowledge about these schools. The second supports ten CEFFAs (Centers for Family Farming and Adolescent Studies) in strengthening their management, through the hiring and training of school administrators, the adoption of a computerized academic and financial management system, and support for connectivity. The third encourages... agroecology through scholarships for projects developed by the students themselves.
The study reveals schools with strong territorial roots, a curriculum connected to local production chains such as cassava, açaí, fish farming, and agroforestry systems, and active family participation in management. It also shows where the main obstacles lie: difficulty in proving legal standing, unstable funding, small staff, and incomplete infrastructure, with some schools still operating without potable water or internet access. The main conclusion is that the pedagogical approach is solid and that the biggest challenge for these schools is institutional sustainability.
Young people who are entrepreneurial and leading
The Panorama data confirms what Dona Maria Odila sees daily. Of the schools that responded to the questionnaire, 21 report young people who have started businesses in rural areas, and 20 observe greater social and political participation among graduates, along with a return to family farming and increased autonomy. These results stem from the very organization of the alternating education program. Throughout the course, each student develops a Youth Professional Project, linking their life project to the development of the territory, and interacts with the community management of the school, conducted by families in associations and assemblies. It is in this process that new producers, small businesses, and community leaders emerge, and the scholarships for students' agroecological projects support precisely this step.
A milestone for working with schools.
The Panorama is the foundation of the entire project. Its data guided the selection of the ten schools in Pará, Amapá, Maranhão, and Rondônia that participate in the other initiatives and gave rise to an individual diagnosis of each school, which defines the priorities for support in management, regularization, and agroecological practices. The study also includes recommendations for public policies and partnerships that recognize the specificities of the alternating education model, making it a useful reference beyond the project itself.
"The CEFFAs prove, every day, that it is possible to educate young people who build their future in their own territory. The Panorama gives visibility to this work and gathers the evidence that partners, public authorities, and communities need to support these schools in a consistent way," says Viviane Aguiar, president of the Interelos Institute.
The results were presented in April, in a webinar broadcast from the headquarters of the Banco do Brasil Foundation in Brasília, with the recording available on [website/platform name]. Interelos' YouTube channelThe full version of Panorama is available at Interelos publications page.