EDUCATION AT THE CROSSROADS OF VIOLENCE: ETHNIC-RACIAL CHALLENGES AND THE URGENCY OF A DECOLONIAL AND ANTI-RACIST PEDAGOGY

Abstract

This article analyzes the alarming increase in school violence in Brazil and the persistent devaluation of ethnic-racial diversity in the education system. The aim is to discuss the challenges of everyday school life and propose strategies to articulate teaching-learning processes that implement a decolonial, anti-racist education that promotes ethnic-racial equity. Through a theoretical-critical essay, which dialogues with authors such as Ana Maria Gonçalves, Candau, Cida Bento, Nilma Lino Gomes and decolonial theorists, the manifestations of institutional violence, the imposition of cultural homogenization and the impacts of setbacks in educational policies are examined. The article argues that confronting structural racism in schools requires the decolonization of the curriculum and pedagogical practices, the valorization of plural knowledge and the redefinition of the teaching-learning relationship. The conclusion is that there is an urgent need to reorganize pedagogical work so that difference is conceived as an educational potential and the school becomes a space for confluence and active construction of an anti-racist society.