The rector of Unicamp, Antonio José de Almeida Meirelles, and the Minister of Indigenous Peoples, Sonia Guajajara, discussed, last Thursday (29), in Brasília, proposals to expand access and permanence policies for indigenous students. Meirelles reiterated the University's willingness to expand its affirmative policies and said it had the support of the federal government.
The Unicamp delegation – which, in addition to the dean, was made up of the dean of Undergraduate Studies, Ivan Toro, and professors Sávio Cavalcante and Chantal Medaets – asked for help from the government to improve the structure of the transport system for students from their regions of origin, when traveling to take exams, register and start the school year, or even for trips during the school break with the objective of seeing family members again.
“Indigenous students are vulnerable and cannot afford plane tickets”, argues the dean, who also participated in a hearing at the Ministry of Defense to address this issue. The idea is to evaluate the possibility of using FAB (Brazilian Air Force) planes to carry out this type of transport.
Unicamp currently has 348 indigenous students, from 49 ethnicities. Close to 85% of them come from the northern region of the country. Many of these students are from the area of Tabatinga (AM), a city located more than 500 kilometers from São Gabriel da Cachoeira (AM), the municipality where the University holds the indigenous entrance exam. The dean also recalled that there are student movements from Manaus to Campinas, where students go to study.
In addition to discussing the issue of transportation, Meirelles suggested to the minister the establishment of an agreement determining the installation, in Campinas, of health equipment for the exclusive care of indigenous people – Unicamp students and non-students. This program could even involve Campinas City Hall, she added.
The dean also defended the creation of a federal program for the exchange of indigenous students from Latin America. Meirelles also said that the University is open to establishing other types of collaboration with the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples.
Toro, in turn, revealed to the minister Unicamp's intention to build, on the Barão Geraldo campus, an exclusive space for indigenous students to socialize, a space that could also be used to carry out cultural or religious activities.
Expansion of scholarships
Member of the Advisory Committee for Academic Inclusion and Participation of Indigenous Peoples (Caiapi) at Unicamp, researcher Medaets said that the University's delegation asked the minister to expand the permanence scholarship programs to cover public state universities. Today the federal program offers R$900 scholarships to indigenous and quilombola students, but only to those enrolled in federal higher education institutions.
Chantal said that on August 8th and 9th, Unicamp should organize the Indigenous Peoples and Higher Education seminar. The idea, according to her, is to welcome indigenous leaders and professors or managers from universities that have programs aimed at indigenous students to Unicamp so that, together, they can think about paths and experiences of indigenous presence in higher education.
She also said that Guajajara revealed the ministry's plan to organize a similar event in order to bring together representatives from 30 universities that have some type of affirmative action involving indigenous students. The objective is to promote a broad debate on the policy of inclusion and permanence of this population in the country's higher education institutions. This event is scheduled to take place in 2024. Meirelles offered Unicamp to host the meeting.
Inclusion and permanence
Through the Ministry of Indigenous Peoples' social media, Guajajara commented on the meeting with the University delegation. “In partnership with Unicamp, we discussed the expansion of affirmative public policies, inclusion and retention for indigenous students”, wrote the minister.
“It is extremely important to direct specific actions to guarantee the policy of permanence of indigenous students, considering that the University is home to the largest number of indigenous peoples from different regions of the country. Together, we will work to build a more inclusive and accessible academic environment”, he concluded.
The meeting was also attended by federal deputy Sâmia Bomfim.
