Foto Renan Roberto Vilela
USP’s Close-Action Program (USP Aproxima-Ação) launched on May 10th its new campaign, Close-Action USP and Child and Adolescent Care. The action is based on the production and distribution of educational material that alerts and guides on how to proceed with the presence and permanence of children and adolescents in university spaces.
The program will analyze the situation of vulnerable children and adolescents attending the campus, as well as violations of rights of the Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA), bearing in mind that minors, although rights holders are not normally in a position to demand them.
The launch was held at a meeting at the Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH) (Faculty of Philosophy, Letters, and Humanities, one of the places where this type of situation usually takes place.
The meeting was attended by the coordinator of the Close- Action Program, teacher Ana Estela Haddad, educator Beatriz Rocha, and the program team. The FFLCH was represented by its director, Professor Maria Arminda do Nascimento Arruda and also by the teachers, Oliver Tolle, Ruy Braga Neto, Alvaro Gullo, Head of the Department of Sociology and Gustavo Venturi, of the Human Rights Commission. The meeting was also attended by students representing the student governments of FFLCH: DCE – Estudantes Livres Alexandre Vannucchi Leme; CAHis – Centro Acadêmico de História (History student government); CAELL – Centro Acadêmico de Estudos Linguísticos e Literários Oswald de Andrade (Letras) (“Oswald de Andrade” Linguistics and Letters Student government); CAF – Centro Acadêmico de Filosofia Prof. João Cruz Costa (“Prof. João Cruz Costa ” Philosophy Student government; CeUPES – Centro Universitário de Pesquisa e Estudos Sociais; CEGE – Centro de Estudos Geográficos Capistrano de Abreu.
During the discussion about the permanence of children and adolescents without the supervision of legal guardians in the student spaces of the university, the student representatives of the student entities gave reports and suggested measures for the monitoring of children and adolescents in the academic environment, such as round tables with teachers, and specific practical training on the matter.
The meeting resulted in a consensus on the most appropriate approaches and the need for permanent guidance from the academic community in addressing the issue, enabling them to move forward in promoting actions that bring these children and adolescents closer to their safety net in their home community.
Professor Ana Estela summarizes: “With these steps, Close- Action USP intends to reflect and collaborate in the construction of knowledge about this reality and the education of people in this area since the university community has a fundamental role in protecting these children and adolescents. But for this they need to be trained to develop an integrated view of the subject in its social, cultural and biological aspects, making them reflect on reality. However, the daily observation still demonstrates that people are little aware of the reality of children and adolescents at risk”.
Arte Julio Tamer Okabayashi