CEFETMARIADAGRAÇA

The Maria da Graça neighborhood

In Rio de Janeiro, Maria is Nossa Senhora, but she is also Oxum. Maria da Graça is a neighborhood in the Zona Norte of the city that, like others, shares common stories and dilemmas. The neighborhood of Maria da Graça is crossed by trains, subways, lines that connect the past and the present. It is a place of passage, but also of permanence. Its residential streets, the walls covered with messages, the samba echoing from backyards, and the coming and going of students around the station are all part of the everyday scenery.

Image description: This image is an old black-and-white newspaper. At the top, there is a prominent headline mentioning "Tremenda consequência da cerroação de hontem" ("Terrible consequence of yesterday's fog"). Below it, there is an informative text about a railway accident that occurred at Deodoro Station. The image shows two photos side by side. In the photo on the left, we see a partially visible train with people standing beside it. In the photo on the right, we also see a train, but with more people standing around it. Both images appear to have been taken in an open area, likely near the station mentioned in the text.

Maria da Graça has been home to several factories, one of the most important being the Cruzeiro match factory, which later became General Electric. If in the past these factories built the dreams of those who migrated to the surrounding area in search of better life opportunities, today Cefet Maria da Graça also builds dreams, though in a different way. This was, and still is, a space where lives and knowledge intersect and transform one another.

Image description: This is a black-and-white photograph of an urban area with various buildings and structures. On the left side, we see an industrial complex with several buildings and a large green area. In the center, there is an extensive open area, possibly a field or park, with some scattered trees. On the right, we find more buildings, including low and tall ones, arranged in rows. In the background, we see a city with many buildings and a range of mountains covered in vegetation. The image is signed "Pesquisa: Victor Pedretti" in the lower right corner.

Our unit was the third Cefet-RJ campus to be inaugurated, back in 1997. In 2000, an Advanced Center of Cefet-RJ was formally created in Maria da Graça, focused on the activities of the Automotive Technology Center (NTA). At the time, an agreement was signed with the Rio de Janeiro State Department of Education, which began offering the regular high school program at Colégio Estadual Prof. Horácio Macedo, which to this day shares with us not only the campus, but also stories and dreams. In 2006, the Decentralized Unit (Uned) of Maria da Graça was formally created, forming, together with the others, Cefet-RJ.

It is relevant that we ask ourselves why we don't know the stories of the places we live in or frequent. What do we lack in order to create this connection? The "Rio dos Estudantes" project at our school invited us to look more closely at the world around us, whether on its positive side - the cultural diversity of our city -, or on its negative side - the inequalities that reproduce themselves in time and space. May this experience serve as inspiration and awaken new interest in the memories that are being carried forward and transformed by generations in the city of Rio, a world-renowned heritage site that is home to many, including ourselves.

Report produced by Agência Nacional about the Fundação Nacional de Material Escolar (FENAME), which operated in the same building where Cefet-Maria da Graça operates today. Arquivo Nacional, 1975. Fundo Agência Nacional.