Curriculum and education on Human Rights

CHALLENGES AND POSSIBILITIES

Abstract

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the Brazilian educational policy in the face of contemporary challenges for implementing an education model that respects diversity and human dignity. To this end, it addresses the emergence of Human Rights Education in the process of citizen formation and the strengthening of democracy, problematizing its relationship with the curriculum. It discusses the curriculum, as a power relationship, emphasizing its formative role capable of affecting the students' identity, focusing on their actions and decisions. The issue of Education in Human Rights, which was already pointed out as important since the Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, gained more relevance in the international community with the promotion of the Decade of Education in Human Rights — which occurred between 1995 and 2004. In line with the international scenario, the Brazilian government created, in 2003, the National Human Rights Education Committee with the attribution of elaborate and monitor the National Human Rights Education Plan (PNEDH), which, after being the subject of several debates and changes over the years, reached its final version in 2007. Such advances are shreds of evidence to what Brazil has been building in defense of a more democratic, just, and solidary society.

Keywords: Human Rights education. Curriculum. National Human Rights education Plan. National Guidelines for Human Rights education.