sa国际传媒

In a two-part special report, Jo Griffin examines the problems of violence which affect education in Latin America. Jo is a freelance journalist for the Guardian, Observer, BBC and Al-Jazeera. She has also worked as a journalist in Mexico, Central America and Brazil.

A Brazlian boy at Areiao slum in Jaguare虂 Sao Paulo Picture: UNICEF/Fabres

On December 10, schools shut for more than 2200 pupils in the favela complex of Mar茅, in northern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as police raided the area and exchanged gunfire with drug gangs.

On this occasion,听the shutdown affected seven schools, three nurseries and three children鈥檚 learning centres, according to education authorities, which promised teachers would catch up on missed lessons.听

But children in poorer areas of Rio routinely miss classes because of armed violence. Schools might shut for several hours during a police operation or families keep their children at home if tensions are high and the route to school is dangerous,

Children also drop out of classes because they are sucked in to the violence and parents disrupt their education by transferring them between schools to avoid flash points.

鈥�
For Eduardo Alves, of research organisation the , based in听Mar茅: 鈥淰iolence is a reality that affects mobility throughout the whole city 鈥� in the favelas and on the outskirts, its consequences have more effects because of social inequality.鈥�

School suspensions and fear among teachers and students are among the consequences of the inequality that increases the vulnerability of poor communities.

While there are no statistics on how many hours of schooling are lost to violence in Rio, news reports reveal that schools in some favelas regularly close for hours at a time because they are unsafe.

The dangers for students are particularly acute in densely populated areas that have become militarised as authorities grapple with urban crime.

A boy plays in Mangueira favela overlooking Rio鈥檚 Maracana football stadium during the 2014 World Cup in Brazil

Many Rio residents are divided over whether the 鈥減acification鈥� process initiated in 2010, whereby armed police invade and then set up a UPP base in areas that were controlled by drug trafficking gangs, has improved security or .

In 2014, violent deaths in Brazil surged to听58,000, with killings by police the second most likely cause of violent death, 听published in October. Rio was the second most dangerous state in terms of violent deaths.

In areas like听Mar茅, battles between police and gangs overshadow school life. In听a report prepared by the state teachers鈥� union (SEPE), which was published last year by the Observatorio das Favelas,听a teacher听in Mar茅 recalls听how a lesson about bogeymen in children鈥檚 literature turned into a session about students鈥� worst nightmare 鈥� the black armoured vehicle of the BOPE police whose arrival announces the start of a police operation.

鈥淲hat struck me was that the students鈥� greatest fear was of the 鈥榗aveirao鈥�,鈥� the teacher said.听

Another teacher recalled supervising 30 children in a playground while a police helicopter overhead fired at suspected gangsters.

Nowhere is the tension between the right to education and the security agenda of the city authorities more evident than at schools where UPP units have set up base on the premises.听A 鈥渟ocial鈥� element of the UPP project envisages more police involvement in schools.

鈥↖n the听Alem茫o favela complex in northern Rio, the walls of the Theophilo de Souza Pinto school are pockmarked with bullet-holes and students pass armed police as they arrive for classes at the school. Enrolment has dropped since the armed UPP police set up their base on the school grounds in 2012. for the police unit to leave the playground but there is no sign yet of the UPP force moving on.

A police commando patrols the Mare Complex shantytown in Rio

鈥淚f the shooting is not too bad, the teacher carries on with the lesson but if it鈥檚 a lot we lie down on the floor. Sometimes, we stay in the corridors because they are safer,鈥� said one student quoted .

鈥淏ut the shots still disturb us because, even when the class does continue, your attention is elsewhere, listening out for what might happen.鈥�

The negative impact on children鈥檚 ability to learn and cognitive function is another consequence of living with armed violence. In Mar茅, Yvonne Bezerra de Mello, founder of the , has developed a teaching method that integrates neuroscience with didactics to repair 鈥渓earning blocks鈥� caused by exposure to violence.

Ms De Mello believes many children in Rio drop out of school because the constant exposure to violence creates specific learning blocks.

鈥淐hildren growing up here often cannot learn because they cannot focus; they lack the pre-learning required for school,鈥� she says.

Her project aims to 鈥渞epair the brain鈥檚 synapses鈥� so that traumatised children restore the cognitive function needed to attend a mainstream school session in the afternoon. She has been recruited by the city to expand the teaching method to other schools.

For Eduardo Alves, the disruption to children鈥檚 education is one manifestation of a failure to protect Rio鈥檚 citizens and a deeper disregard for the lives of those in poor areas.

鈥淲hat is in question so that education or any other aspect of human life flows more determinedly 鈥� is that the state puts human life above all else,鈥� he said.

鈥淎 clear policy of defending human life, expressed through a policy of full mobility across the city is urgently needed to address these and other inequalities.鈥�