29/04/2019

The mathematician dedicated himself to rural schools in Petrópolis for decades.

Escola reunia em uma mesma sala alunos do 1º ao 4º ano do Ensino Fundamental

Karine Rodrigues

The road leading to Contrões, in the rural area of Petrópolis, demands skilled drivers and patience. Maurício Peixoto, emeritus researcher at IMPA who died this Sunday (28) , at the age of 98, knew this well. For almost four decades, he frequently bumped through the distance to his family's farm. In the region, he bet on a transformation possible through education.

The project went beyond the extra math classes he himself taught here and there to elementary school students, and materialized in a modest building with light-colored walls, bearing the name "Marília Chaves Peixoto Municipal School".

Located about 70 kilometers from the center of Petrópolis, the school was built in 1971 and honors Peixoto's first wife. Also a mathematician, Marília died at age 39, a decade earlier. She would have liked to have seen the project take shape in that resource-poor region, where her father had a farm.

When Peixoto won the Moinho Santista Prize in 1969 for contributions to the field of Dynamical Systems—including one of the first works on structural stability done with Marília—he didn't think twice: he donated the prize money to the city of Petrópolis, with a specific purpose.

No 1º CBM, em 1957, Maríllia (1ª à direita na 1ª fila) e Maurício (3º na mesma fila, de óculos)

The mathematician from Ceará finally wanted to see a school built there in Contrões. He believed that its proximity could help reduce the illiteracy rate in the region. The nearest school was about ten kilometers away, a distance covered on foot, horseback, or by cart.

The school was built on land donated by the then father-in-law. There, the multi-grade classroom system prevailed: children from 1st to Wednesdays grade of elementary school shared the same space and had a single teacher.

Never before has education been so accessible to the residents of Contrões, recalls Ana Caroline de Paula, 36. “The school was very important for all of us. No one needed to spend an hour and a half on the road to study anymore,” she says, who completed the first four years of elementary school at Marília Chaves Peixoto.

"No one wanted to teach over such a great distance."

From that time, Ana cherishes countless memories of Peixoto. Besides the extra math classes – “he focused on the importance of education, of dedicating ourselves to our studies, despite the difficulties” – she saw him going back and forth trying to solve the problem of the teachers' transportation.

“There was no transportation, no school van, you had to walk. There was a great difficulty even in finding a teacher, nobody wanted to teach at such a great distance,” recalls Ana, adding that Peixoto helped the community where she lived a lot, located just over 15 minutes from where she lives now.

When the first children finished their four years of school, she recalls, a doubt arose in the community: would they be able to meet the demands of the city's educational institutions? According to Ana, it was a pointless concern: “The education was of high quality. I didn't have any difficulties. Later I did teacher training,” she reveals. As an adult, she prepared to become a teacher, entered law school, but was unable to complete the course.

Peixoto's last wife, also a mathematician, Alciléa Augusto, gives an idea of the project's significance in the researcher's life. “For almost 40 years, in that single room, with a kitchen and dining area, more than 300 students completed their primary education. Without public transportation, far from the centers where the teachers lived, Maurício, throughout that time, ensured a teacher's presence at the school. He bought a bicycle for one, paid the owner of a Volkswagen Beetle to transport another, paid for the gasoline for another's jeep, provided snacks when the city failed, in short, everything necessary so that the children of Contrões could have school. Other residents helped by donating refrigerators, stoves, and gas.”

Education and values

In 2002, Peixoto attempted to introduce children to the new world of computing. He secured a donation of computers from the Institute of Mathematics and Statistics (IME) at the University of São Paulo (USP). The Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), as well as the National Laboratory for Scientific Computing (LNCC), also contributed with additional machines. At that time, with the support of owners of neighboring properties, he was able to expand the school building, constructing a laboratory, classrooms, a library, and a pantry.

When the municipal school transportation service in Petrópolis began ensuring that children from the region attended more structured educational institutions, the school became the Marília Chaves Peixoto Reference Center. There, students from other regions learned the secrets of computing, and adults were taught to read and write. For nine years, approximately 70 children were served each semester.

Leandro Oliveira, or Léo, 31 years old, and his sister, Juliana, also spent four years at the Marília Chaves Peixoto Municipal School, from which they have fond memories. As an adult, he returned to the school to join a group of four students who assisted the teacher in computer classes.

“I am very grateful for the person I have become. I am very proud of my journey. And the school was essential for that. There I received an education and learned important values,” observes Léo, who works as a salesman for a company in Petrópolis and lives very close to Contrões. “Even today it’s a place somewhat abandoned by the public authorities,” he says.

Regarding the subject, Peixoto never liked to speak publicly. He was thrilled with each advancement he witnessed at the school, but he didn't want recognition. He only wanted to enable transformation through something he valued so much.

“One day, a lady recounted that her mother was deeply ashamed of being illiterate, but she and all her children knew how to read, write, and do arithmetic thanks to Doctor Mauricio,” recalls Alciléa.

The school remains available to the community. The Brejal Microbasin Association, which is responsible for preserving local water sources, operates there.