The Rikbatksa people and the search for the school outside the village

Abstract

This work presents part of the results of a master's thesis developed at the Vinícius de Moraes Rural Municipal School in Juína-MT, Brazil. The school is located on the left bank of the Juruena River, opposite bank where some villages of the Rikbaktsa ethnic group are located. In village schools, teachers are mostly indigenous and follow a specific curriculum guided by national legislation. Even so, some Rikbaktsa parents prefer studies to take place in the rural school. The research asks: Why do some parents of Rikbaktsa students look for non-indigenous schools for their children to study? The purpose of the investigation was to identify the reasons why Rikbaktsa parents chose a non-indigenous school for the education of their children. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and organized using content analysis. The results show that students' parents understand that non-indigenous school helps young Rikbaktsa students to understand non-indigenous society and better prepares them for a profession. According to the analysis, professionalization by the study is a safe way through which they can have a financial income to meet their future needs and also, with new knowledge, improve the life in their indigenous community.