Introduction

The end of World War II, the bloom of the glorious years of capitalism, in a worldwide scale, as well as, in a national sphere, the restoration - with the end of the Estado Novo - of the democratic State, denoted by the 1946 Constitution, compete to forge a conjecture that nurtures a developmentalism ideology, associated to the understanding of the need of education to the country’s modernization process. Regardless the fallacy and the distortions of these conceptions, its diffusion and the concurrent approval process of the Lei de Diretrizes e Bases da Educação Nacional (Educational Law) rekindle the mobilization, initiated by progressive intellectuals, defending the public school, as a responsibility of the State, aiming its effective democratization, therefore becoming accessible to the entire population.

In this context, the 1950s and 1960s were a milestone for the secondary education in the city of Campina Grande - PB: the thriving town in the State of Paraíba now has, though belated², two public institutions that embrace this level of schooling, such as, the Colégio Estadual dr. Elpídio de Almeida (Dr. Elpídio de Almeida State School), founded in 1953 - commonly known as Estadual da Prata (Prata State), terminology adopted in this paper - and the Escola Normal Estadual de Campina Grande (Campina Grande State Teacher’s School), founded in 1960, designated, since 1981, Escola Normal Padre Emídio Viana Correia (Padre Emídio Viana Correia Teacher’s School) - known as Escola Normal de Campina Grande (Campina Grande Teacher’s School) - (ENCG), designation adopted here.

They were created to answer the social and political pressures of campinenses’ forces, such institutions consist in quality education references, which - compatible to the characteristic of hub city taken by Campina Grande - brings students originally, with expressive percentage, from a great number of Paraiba’s cities, and even, in more humble percentages, from other states of the Region and the country.

Effectively, since the beginning of its population (in 1697), the town performs the duty of an important commercial crossroad, due to its strategic position connecting the coast to the countryside (sertão), hence, becoming the second political economic pole of the State of Paraíba, dethroned only by the capital city.

In the first four decades of the 20th century, the cotton culture made Campina Grande the second largest cotton exporter in the whole world, second only to Liverpool - England, reason why the city is then surnamed "Brazilian Liverpool". The main character responsible by the city’s growth, the cotton prospects the insertion of processing industries, brings traders from other Paraiba’s regions and from all Northeast, it conceives the insertion of banking establishments, inducing a boom in the demographic growth, estimated by some experts, being more than 600%, between 1907-1939.

The last decade of the previously mentioned years, specially, is marked by years of economic development, the urban restructuring, political conflicts and social unrest, in which the modernization process of the city - chiefly regarding the urban aspect - occupies an outstanding place.

Contrasting with the city’s economic prosperity, public education surrounding town presents some weaknesses, once that, in 1932, while in the private education network there were 17 schools, the public network was constituted, almost by, isolated subjects, there was only Grupo Escolar Estadual (State School Group) in town, furthermore, about 87% of the population was illiterate (ALMANACH, 1932).

In the beginning of the 1960s, already as a commercial and industrial pole among the state’s borders, the municipality is responsible for a taxes collection larger than the Paraiba’s capital itself, João Pessoa. The urban growth implies a significant increase of the school network, in such way, that in this same decade, Campina Grande had 156 primary city schools, 48 primary state schools, 13 primary private schools, five secondary education institutions and a school of industrial knowledge (SILVA, 2005). Reinforcing the weakness of the public network, in the previously mentioned secondary education institutions, just the Colégio Estadual de Campina Grande - founded in 1952 - belongs to the state chain.

Remaining in this same schooling level, concerning the qualification of teachers to primary education, two private campinenses’ institutions - Instituto Pedagógico (Pedagogic Institute) and Colégio Imaculada Conceição (Immaculate Conception School) - had been equivalent, still in the 1930s, to the Escola Normal da Paraíba (Paraiba’s Teacher School), located in the state’s capital, while the Escola Normal Estadual de Campina Grande has been founded only in 1960.

The quick contextualization we’ve just done, at the same time, it enlightens the initial paragraph of this article and indicates its relevance to the public education history of Campina Grande. Since the foundation of both these schools institutions considered here, which, paradoxically; there is - still - a sensitive need of bibliography and deeper researches.

Having in mind helping to decrease this need, the authors have developed researches that basis this paper, to which there were chosen some findings that allows discussing the social prestige of both public institutions, in the heat between the secondary school system elitism and democratization in the 1950-1960 period, in the city of Campina Grande.

Characterized by this objective, and paying attention to the text size, this present paper highlights two aspects, that by the authors both are considered as strong evidences³ of this prestige, such as: the inauguration solemnity of the buildings and the data of both institutions student’s bodies, concerning the first decade of work for each of them - from 1952 to 1962, for the Colégio Estadual da Prata, and from 1960 to 1970, for the Escola Normal.

In order to address the inauguration solemnities, we have resorted articles published in two important newspaper media of Paraiba: A União (The Union), state newspaper, and the Diário da Borborema (Borborema’s Gazette), only newspaper working in Campina Grande, a part of Diários Associados (Associate Gazettes)⁴.

As far as it concerns the student body of the studied institutions, the findings presented here are from the data gathering in Escola Estadual de Ensino Médio Elpídio de Almeida’s (official current denomination Colégio Estadual dr. Elpídio de Almeida) archive and in Arquivo Governador João Agripino (Governor João Agripino Archive), of Escola Normal de Campina Grande. It’s important to punctuate the poor conditions of these archives, such as the inadequate packaging forms, which have caused losses or led to damages in many documents, making it extremely hard and long the information collection task.

The present text understands that, after this introduction, specific sections to each one of the studied institutions, which have our deep considerations, presenting here the more relevant synthesis of what we have arrived to.

The Estadual da Prata

The foundation, in the early 1950s, of a large public secondary school in Campina Grande is part of a series of endeavors made in both cultural and educational fields⁵, aiming to certify the position of modernity and progress of the city, built in the early decades of 20^th century. Such initiative acquires greater meaning for being the first public institution of secondary schooling in the state’s countryside, founded more than a century after - and so far, only - Liceu Paraibano (Paraiba’s Lyceum), founded in 1836, situated in the state´s capital, João Pessoa.

The building’s construction, started in 1948, it is prior even to the conception of the Colégio Estadual dr. Elpídio de Almeida, formalized by Decree No. 456, from July 18th 1952, in which, its purpose is assigned as “teaching, in a day school format both genders, the secondary education, as demands the respective federal law”. (ESTADO DA PARAIBA, 1952).

The Inauguration Day, in January 31^st 1953 (six months after its formalization), had already emphasized characteristics of the social prestige the School would enjoy, throughout the 1950s and 1960s. Joining the celebrations of Governor José Américo de Almeida’s second year of term and coinciding with the settlement of the I Convention of Secondary Teachers of Northeast (I Congresso de Professores Secundários do Nordeste), the inauguration receives wide coverage by largest newspapers circulating in the State, receiving really flattering articles.

Regarding the Convention, the articles highlight the adoption of “intellectual northeastern methods” (JORNAL DE CAMPINA, 30/11/1952, p. 06), just as the attendance of other States’ delegations - from Northeast and also from other country’s regions - and the Ministry of Education’s representative to the event. One still might say, the discussion in this Convention was about answering to the reclaims of improvement to the secondary education, in special to the need of restructuring the prevailing legislation, concerning the curricular organization and the situation of faculty members in this level of schooling.

Concerning, chiefly, the School, the focus of the news is only about the “excellent facilities” (Jornal A UNIÃO, 28/01/1953, p. 03) built to function as an educational complex. Therefore, there are some standouts: the total square footage (19,397m²); the financial costs of construction (Cr$ 8.000,000,00); the total capacity (3.000 students), such as the detailing of the architectonic project :

The project authored by the architect Hugo Azevedo Marques, fulfills all the technic demands, crucial to the construction of a facility with such purpose.

All orientation details, ventilation, lightning system, distribution between the actual constructed area and the places destined to sports e recreational fields, correlation between the total number of students and the space available in all classrooms, the sizing of the Gym and the Auditorium, the basketball, tennis and volleyball courts, the race tracks and other athletic sports, have been highly considered by the above-mentioned architect, whose achievements in his specialties are a guarantee of excellence in this project. (Jornal A UNIÃO, 04/12/1948, p. 03)

Even overlooking the boastful and advertising tone of the broadcasted news, we must recognize that, to the city of Campina Grande in the early 1950s, it was an imposing project, that’s why the school became commonly known by the surname of “Gigantão da Prata” (Prata’s Giant). The following picture contains a panoramic vision of the building structure.

Source: Blog Retalhos Históricos de Campina Grande.

Figure 1: Facade of Estadual da Prata’s complex. 

Beyond architecture, the location chosen for the School also can be taken as an evidence, not only, to this institution’s prestige, but, as well, to the social class the students who shall be frequenting would have, because the Prata neighborhood figures, since its beginning, as an urban area, close to downtown, dominated by families with a higher buying power (CABRAL FILHO, 2007).

Coming to operation and throughout the studied period, the Estadual da Prata justifies the expectations about the foundation of a public secondary educational institution in the state’s countryside. As previously mentioned in this text introduction, this School brings students naturally from other regions of the State, particularly from Sertão (hintexlands) - the farthest from the capital - and from other northeastern states, such as Alagoas, Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte. Occasionally, you may find students originally from the state of São Paulo and even from overseas - Italy.

In terms of students living in Campina Grande, a notable data about the schools they have attended in the first cycle of the secondary education. In the opening year of Estadual da Prata, the whole total of students who were from private schools, standing out schools as Diocesano Pio XI and Alfredo Dantas, from which came 93% of the students. We must clarify that both this traditional education institutions - the Ginásio Alfredo Dantas (Gymnasium Alfredo Dantas) is the oldest school in the municipality, founded by the name of Instituto Pedagógico (^{ANDRADE, 2014}) - also offered courses of the second cycle of secondary education, the classic and the scientific, the same offered by the emerging state school.

The previous level of schooling in private schools, although fading, remains in the first five years of this School, since, even though most of entrants (62% from total) in high school, in 1958, had already attended middle school in Estadual da Prata itself, the remaining 38% derives from that other two private schools (28%), which, we can add an exclusive school for girls, the Colégio Imaculada Conceição (10%), supported by the religious order Associação das Religiosas da Instrução Cristã (Christian Association of Religious Instruction).

Nevertheless, discussing this latter data goes beyond our purpose for this paper, we consider necessary to mention it, due to the important topics it raises. Effectively, the early female students’ traffic from Imaculada Conceição to high school at Estadual da Prata, instead of their remaining in that school, attending the Secondary education, represent, in our point of view, an indicative of the wide movement for women emancipation, that was going to be a strong milestone in the 60s, which initiates the entrance of women in professions previously considered as strictly for men, such as medical and technological fields.

For now, we shall strict ourselves to talk about the student’s body change, in general, from a private middle school to a public high school. Far from any financial problem, it was about a choice of wealthy families, due to the prestige enjoyed by Estadual da Prata, throughout the 1950s and that remains in the following years of the next decade. Sure enough, this school made its way to Campina Grande’s history, not only for the quality of its teaching academic qualifications, but as a true nurturer of socially successful people, proved by the following quote.

Throughout history, [the Colégio Estadual da Prata] lifted influent local citizens to the most prominent awarded careers, such as Ronaldo Cunha Lima, Benedito Luciano, Agnelo Amorim, Vespaziano Quintans, Elizabeth Marinheiro, Juarez Farias, Humberto de Campos, Luizmar Resende, Virgílio Brasileiro, Teócrito Maciel, Lamir Motta, João Fernandes Mariz, Ney Suassuna, José Nêumane Pinto, Elba Ramalho, Hermano José, Luíza Erundina, Capilé, the authors of this book, beyond others. (^{LACERDA JUNIOR; LIRA, 2012}, p.466)

Therefore, we may consider the entrance of higher social classes’ young people at the state school as an outcome of their development to prominent professional careers, keeping the interaction with their peers from the same social circle, evincing this school elitist nature on its first decade of operation.

The social elitism connects itself to the academic selectivity, already showing in the results of the first admission examination for Curso Ginasial (Middle School), done by Estadual da Prata, in 1953, which only 38.4% from the registered have been approved (^{SILVA, 2014}).

Noting that, besides academic requirements, the Estadual demanded, for the students’ enrollment, presenting a health certificate and a proof of vaccination against smallpox and typhus, as highlighted by ^{Silva (2014}), from the hygiene conceptions entrenched on the Brazilian educational field, since the last years of the 19^th century.

However, beyond academic aspects, the Estadual da Prata has also been a representation - until the collapse of students’ representative entities, by the civil-military dictatorship established in 1964 - as a role model to the high school students’ movement in Campina Grande. Through this path, already on its first years of operation, it has been created the Diretório Estudantil do Colégio Estadual de Campina Grande (Students’ Directory of Campina Grande State School) or Grêmio Machado de Assis (Student Council Machado de Assis), then among other activities, edits the Jornal O Grêmio (“O Grêmio” newspaper”) .

Furthermore, there are records of massive students’ participation on the Centro Estudantal Campinense (Campinense Student Center), organization founded around the 1930s and considered

as an active core of students, who through a strong political action in the city, led the students’ movement, past fights and discussions about the students’ issues. Ones who, through experiences with recurring writing, have lived the political fizz, which both city and country were going through, and by discussions on the press, with educational themes, such as: textbooks; faculty; opening and operation of the existing libraries in the city (^{SANTANA; MACHADO, 2017}, p.3668-69).

This, in broad terms, is the trajectory of the first public secondary school in Campina Grande, in its initial decade.

The Escola Normal Estadual de Campina Grande

It was only on the second half of the 1950s, that the primary education and the qualification of teachers to this level of schooling started to be in the agenda of authorities and politicians of Campina Grande (AGRA DO Ó, 2006; CAMPINA GRANDE, 1958; DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1958), this allows us to observe the urgency, in this historic moment, of social demands towards this direction, to which is added the foundation purpose of a Escola Normal in Campina Grande, expressed by governor Pedro Gondim (1958-1960).

Such purpose comes true through the draft in law No. 543, from October 1959, approved in January 1960, by the Legislative Assembly, originating law No. 2,229, sealed by governor José Fernandes de Lima, on March 31^st, 1960, and published in the State’s Official Diary on April 8th the same year, from which is “founded the Escola Normal Estadual de Campina Grande (Campina Grande Secondary State School), designated to teachers qualification for primary schools, through the pedagogic course (second cycle of secondary school)” (ESTADO DA PARAÍBA, 1960, p. 1).

Opposing Estadual da Prata, the Escola Normal (ENECG) is founded and starts its operation without a specific building of its own, located, according to the provisions in Article 6^th of law No. 2,229/1960, in Colégio Estadual of Campina Grande’s facilities to this purposes, “[it will receive] the adaptions required” (^{LIMA, p. 21, 1960}).

However, such adaptions weren’t done, the fragility is the main mark of the operation’ conditions in ENCG first years, once that the “leased facilities were just two classrooms, one for an actual classroom [...] and the other for the Principal’s Office, Registration’s Office and archiving” (ESCOLA NORMAL..., 2008, p.1).

On the second half of the 1960s, the School started operating in the Colégio Anita Cabral facilities, where it has remained until the inauguration of its own building in May 1970, where it is nowadays (SOUZA; LIMA, 2016),

Perhaps due to the facilities’ fragility, previously mentioned, the number of enters remain almost the same in the prior three years (from 1960 to 1962) of the School’s operation, presenting only a slight change from 27 to 31 enrollments in the inaugural year of the Secondary Course.

Overcoming the shy first three years, the School takes its place as an qualifier institution of primary female teachers in Campina Grande, in such way that, by the end of its first decade of operation, it surpasses the record of a hundred more enrollments in the Secondary Course (111 enters).

As well as the Estadual da Prata, the Secondary School’s student body are from cities of all Paraiba’s middle-regions - most from Agreste, Borborema and Sertão -, from other Northeast’s States, except for Piauí, and occasionally from two states of the Southeast - Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo - just as from two other countries - Portugal and Egypt.

With further development, the data reading about student body origin location shows that the Secondary School’s coverage goes beyond the city boundaries, once that, in this reference period, less than half the students - 34,8%, approximately - comes from Campina Grande. The highest percentage of campinenses can be observed in the Secondary School first year of operation, responding to 46,4% of the students.

The first and clearer observation about the School’s student body, in the period under review, regards the fact of it being composed, only, by girls, as already introduced in the text - above-mentioned segment - in its conception law, what confirms the teaching’s womanizing process, excessively shown in the literature field (for instance ^{ALMEIDA, 2004} and ^{CHAMON, 2007}).

Plus, validating the surname, given by a local newspaper, of “young girls qualifier” institution (DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1958, p.2), most enters - 52.0% - were between the age of 16 to 19, followed by the ones with age from 20 to 24, with 38.7% of the students. About the remaining 9.3%, the highest percentage of enters is between the age of 25-29 (6.53%), being rather unexpressive the entering of students from 30-39 years (1.78%) and over 40 years (0.25%), such as the percentage of new students’ enrollments in the age of 15 (0.77%).

The students’ enrollment in ages above 25, although, unexpressive, rises an issue not clarified by the available research’s sources, anyhow, what’s the reason for loosening the Paraiba’s legal regulation, for the maximum age of entering the Secondary School, nationally defined? Indeed, the Organic Law for Secondary Schooling (Law-Decree No 8,530, from January 2^nd, 1946), in the 21^st article, states that, the registration for the second cycle of secondary school admission exams, “the candidates must[...] be the minimum age of 15” (BRASIL. PRESIDÊNCIA DA REPÚBLICA, 1946, p. 1), adding, in one paragraph:“There won’t be admitted in any course candidates who shall be above twenty-five years old” (BRASIL. PRESIDÊNCIA DA REPÚBLICA, 1946, p. 1).

Contrasting law No. 850, from December 6^th 1952, which orders the secondary schooling in the State of Paraiba, handling the students registers in the admission exams to the secondary courses, concerning the age, only demands “minimum age of fifteen (15)” (ESTADO DA PARAÍBA, 1952, p. 1) not defining a maximum age to such registers.

Among the documents of one of the students, whose age surpasses the national decree, there has been found a rare document with traces of possible explanation for this disagreement between the state and federal laws: a certificate of the City Hall, supporting the teaching profession, by that student, in a public school of the city. Such certificate, made us think on the possibility that, the Escola Normal de Campina Grande had adopted some kind of targeted measure, concerning only, the qualification of lay teachers in permanently, inside the primary schooling of the public chain. Nevertheless, this is about a possibility, whose confirmation demands a more thorough examination, once we couldn’t find any reference to this matter in the sources we had at the time.

Just as it has happened with the age range, throughout the period under review, there also has been a diversified institutional set-ups at the school, the girls have gone to middle school⁶, clearly, when it comes to schools from other Paraiba’s cities our other States in the Federation, we have observed a huge amount of institutional diversity, concerning the:

The identified differences found in the survey, between the schools in other Paraiba’s cities and also other States of the federation show that the campinenses’ schools, which the new students of the ENCG are from, public or private, teach the introductory secondary education. When considering the public schools group, we must highlight the prevalence of the Colégio Estadual of Campina Grande, institution that, until the 70s’ primary years, had been characterized as an institution qualifier of the political and academic elite of the city, as presented in the previous item (^{SILVA, 2014}).

On the other hand, the private institution group, remain throughout the whole period, two major port, traditional schools and responsible to attend the most wealthier families of Campina Grande and other nearby cities: the previously mentioned - when it is been talked about the Estadual da Prata - Ginásio da Imaculada Conceição (Immaculate Conception Middle School) and Ginásio Alfredo Dantas (Alfredo Dantas Middle School). Remaining in the private institution group, the other two schools, the female students of ENECG came - from the Ginásio Diocesano Pio XI (Diocesan Pius XI Middle School) and the Ginásio Nossa Senhora de Lourdes (Our Lady of Lourdes Middle School) - these are also schools destined to the same customer base.

Facing the exposed, it seems appropriate to state that, when it was founded and in its first decade of operation, the ENECG resembles the Escola Normal da Paraíba concerning its foundation, which, according ^{Kulesza (2008}, p.270), it was more than just simple interest for a quality public education it was about being “a female gender school destined to the elite”. From 1975, the increase in the number of students who were from, mainly, other Paraiba’s cities, seems to indicate us the beginning of the School’s democratization process, that has happened on the 70s⁷.

Besides graduating in the first cycle of secondary education, the admission in junior year - as the Federal and State legislation (Law-Decree No. 8,530/1946 and Law No. 850/1952, respectively) demand the fulfillment, by the candidate, of the following requirements: a) Brazilian nationality; b) mental and physical health; c) lack of physic deformity or functional disturb that opposes the teaching profession; d) good social behavior; e) certificate in the admission exams.

Fulfilling the established demands from letters “a” to “d”, in the students’ documents, examined by us, there were:

Once more, as also demanded to the students’ enrollment at Estadual da Prata, hygiene conceptions specifications prevailed among the demands to be fulfilled by the candidates to Secondary Schooling. Moreover, the future students still must have good moral reputation certificate, which is a reflection of ideology that concepts, children teachers virtues, sweetness, mildness and purity, resembling the mother figure, or as ^{Almeida (2004}, p.68) has assured, associating the “holy woman figure, to Mary’s image, the soul and body pureness”. This regulatory model of women, according to the author, goes through the social life in the 19^th century, and is carried over to the 20^th century, inspired by the Christianity’s archetypes, and

they reflected the prevailing culture, dictating behavior models in which female’s virtues were praised, such as, celibacy and abnegation, forging a symbolic representation of women through an ideology imposed by religion and society [...] The mystic language to label the feminine role, has been used by a cultural ideology, it searched in religion metaphors and analogies to set the woman-mother with values of holy, angel of kindness and pureness, qualities each one must had [...] (^ALMEIDA,2004,p.68).

Regarding the admission exam, whose regulations competed in a subnational matter, the state law established, as demands to the registration “first cycle (of Secondary Schooling) graduation certificate, or middle school graduation certificate, basic trade course conclusion simultaneously to middle school, and minimum age of fifteen (15)” (ESTADO DA PARAÍBA, 1952, p. 2). Thereby, the student’s documentation is also composed by the pertinent course graduation certificate, and also the respective student record.

The same law has even established, the non-requirement of the admission exam, to “the candidate registering in the first grade [...], approved with general score equal our superior to seven (7) in first or second grades of the scientific or classic courses” (ESTADO DA PARAÍBA, 1952, p. 2).

Fulfilling this legal provision, some students’ records registers the result achieved in the admission exam, being denominated as exame vestibular (entrance examination), until 1962, from this year there were no more information about its execution. The students’ documents, who have enrolled between 1962 and 1963, possess registration requirements as “qualified candidate to initial register”, but there is no record of this exam, nor clarification about the enrollment form adopted.

From 1964 on, we observed that the register of new students had occurred by transfers, in an average percentage of 27.9 %. In some years, as 1966, 1969 and 1970, it was already about a significant percentage, than the last considered year, it answers for more than half of the enrollers.

The majority (74.5%), of these enrollments come from transfers that effectively imply just the change of schools, because the students have already been in the Secondary Course, in the institution of origin. We must highlight the fact that in opposite of the previous years, which there has been a massive scattering of the past schools, in 1970, 25,8% of the students transferred are from the Escola Normal Municipal Anita Cabral/Fundação Instituto Campinense de Educação (Secondary Municipal School Anita Cabral/Campinense Education Institution Foundation), this one deserves a specific investigation, because there hasn’t been found records of this school in the analyzed documents, concerning the municipal education in Campina Grande.

The remaining 21.8% of the enters by transfers are related to students coming from the scientific (16%) and the classic (5,8%), in the second cycle of secondary school. Distinctly far from the situation founded in student’s transfers from the secondary course, we have verified that in the referred period, a prevalence - average of 47,35% - of Colégio Estadual de Campina Grande (Campina Grande’s State School) as the student’s origin school, which is quite different from the Ginásio Afredo Dantas, with really low percentages (8,15%).

While they show, the resemblance of what has been observed, concerning the graduates from middle school, a flow between the schools considered as elite and the ENECG, this flux of students from the scientific and classic courses forms an inspiring them to posterior investigations, since we consider the possibility of it being another expression of the gender segregation observed in the secondary schooling in Campina Grande, in the studied decade.

Exhaling this segregation, and firming itself as a qualifier institution of young girls, the ENECG graduates 610 primary teachers throughout its first decade of operation (DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1970a, p.8)

And, as previously said, it’s only in the last year of the studied period, in the School’s 10^th anniversary, in May 1970, that the school’s own building is inaugurated, an event with great reverberation in the state, as verified in the news broadcasted in two searched newspapers.

In unanimous agreement, the news in both periodicals - Diário da Borborema and A União- praise the inauguration of the “Thousandth”⁸, although with distinct highlights: The União newspaper emphasizes the role of the governor, even using, parts of the congratulation speech, given by the city councilor José Alves Costa in a City Council of Campina Grande’s session, whereby “the achievements of Mr. João Agripino [...] are showing to Brazil that in Paraiba you can build a century’s progress in five years” (A UNIÃO, 1970b, p. 10).

On the other hand, the Diário da Borborema’s coverage - editions from March 6^th, 10^th and 12^th 1970 - is more about the inauguration of the facilities, highlighting

heavy movement [in the city], with the arrival of tenths of visitors, authorities, press and people invited by the State Government to the solemnities scheduled for today. The major interest still is the thousandth endeavor of João Agripino’s Government (DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1970b, p.10).

Although the Diário da Borborema highlights all the preparations to the referred inauguration, the details of the solemnity are related by the A União newspaper, as following quoted.

Since the first hours of the evening there have started arriving authorities (the mayors Paz de Lima [Campina Grande] and Damásio Franca [João Pessoa] have arrived almost simultaneously, teachers, students and the people [...]. It was the school principal, Mr. Estácio Tavares that started the speeches. [...]

In the courtyard, squads formed by the Escola Normal’s students executing evolutions, offering the Governor a “corbeille” of flowers and the mayors a flag of their respective cities. The secretary of Education, Mr. Antônio Mariz showed in his speech the importance of the endeavor to the campinense culture.

A firework display, that last approximately 20 minutes lighted the usual campinense “fog”, has closed the festivities. (A UNIÃO, 1970, p.1, parenthesis of the original).

It wasn’t only in the Paraiba’s main written communication vehicles that the inauguration party of the thousandth government endeavor has been announced and registered. It has also been filmed by a cinematographic company: the Atlântida Empresa Cinematográfica do Brasil S.A. (Atlantic Cinematographic Company of Brasil JSC), headquartered in Rio de Janeiro. This information was provided by the teacher Estácio Tavares Wanderley, the current ENCG’s principal, to the Diário da Borborema newspaper, on January 18^th 1970, in the article entitled “Atlântida will be filming the inauguration of the Instituto de Educação (Education Institute): May”. In a section of the article the principal says the following:

the Atlântida Cinematográfica, national movies company will be filming all inauguration ceremonies of the institution [...] “with no costs to the State of Paraiba, in a spontaneous national cinematographic contribution to the most active executive chief’s endeavor in our country (DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1970c, p. 1).

Regarding the facilities, the newspapers - Diário da Borborema and A União - don’t come to an agreement concerning the style of the building, which is designated by A União, as “simple and edgy design” (A UNIÃO, 1970, p.1) and by Diário da Borborema, as a “medieval design” (DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1970ª, p.8). Having this divergence been overcome, the information readings brought up by both vehicles allow us to have a detailed description of the ENECG’s new facilities: more than 8,000m² of ground area, 2,506 m² are of covered area and about 6,200 m², by a courtyard with two sport courts.

The covered area is mainly constituted by two blocks, with two floors each, one of them “will be the teachers qualifier school and the [other], the implementation school for children from six to twelve years” (DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1970a, p. 08). The first block has 10 classrooms, administrative sites, the principal’s office, science and manual work labs, library, cafeteria, auditorium, teacher’s room, student body council and storeroom (A UNIÃO, 1970; DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1970a). In the following picture we have a vison of the building’s facade, and its construction design.

Fonte: DB, May 6^th; 11^th year, N.4063

Foto 2: ENECG’ building facade. 

After the physical structure description, the Diário da Borborema, in consistency to its initial perspective, highlights that “[the] ENE will be the first one in Northeast to have two wide joint complexs to a better qualification and usefulness of future teachers” (DIÁRIO DA BORBOREMA, 1970a, p. 8).

As it might have been observed, the articles in the local newspapers, when they praise the inauguration party and the building’s structure, they’re aiming, uncounsciously, to consolidate the image of Campina Grande as the most important city of Northeast’s countryside, capital of work and so many other surnames, which, according to Gaudêncio (^{FECHINE, 2018}), nurture the city history of greatness, the one named as “campinismo”⁹.

Detatched from this bais, the dimension the inauguration solemnity of the ENCG’s own building has had and the relevance to it conceived by the two more important Paraiba’a newspaper, in our point view, they’re evidence of the social prestige of this first primary teachers’ qualifier institution in the city of Campina Grande, in the 70s’ first few years. Moreover, as above-mentioned the student body profile, confirms the womanizing process of the teaching profession and it signs being an institution destined to graduate the campinense’s elite youth.

Conclusions

The public education history in Campina Grande-PB, during the 1950s and 1960s, is marked by the foundation of two secondary schooling institutions intended to the campinense and surrounding communities’ youth: the Colégio Estadual da Prata (1953) and the Escola Normal de Campina Grande (1960). The advent of both Schools comes to attend the desires of the campinense population for official public institutions of secondary schooling level and they have been the outcome of campinenses’ social and political pressure. Such requests on the educational field overlap the Campina Grande’s rise as an important economic and cultural pole in Northeast Brazil.

Although legit, in its foundation, as an expression of the government attendance to popular demands, the studied schools were intended, definitely, to the campinense elite schooling. Consequently, in our researches, distributed in this paper, it was possible to acknowledge the social prestige and also social role of both these public institutions in newspapers’ articles broadcasted in important Paraiba’s press vehicles, for instance the inauguration solemnities and the privilege location, being built in neighborhoods near downtown. We may also see here, evidences of the social background of students, who would be attending these institutions.

Some aspects of the remains can be shown in the student body profile of Colégio Estadual da Prata as at Escola Normal de Campina Grande, in their first decade of operation, it has been identified in documental sources. Both institutions have been a model by the enrollment of young people (boys and girls) who came from traditional families of the campinense and surrounding areas elite in its student body. There has been registered at Estadual da Prata, the enrollment, mostly, of young men, majority, they have been enrolled through the admission exam, they were the ones who dreamed about entering the political and intellectual elite of the city. Most part of their graduates have been in prestigious profession, they were political leaders, doctors, lawyers, college professors, etc., Being seen as reputable intellectuals such in local, as state, and even national society.

At ENCG we have found an exclusive feminine student body, most by young women (in middle school), ones who had come from private institutions in Campina Grande, they were seeking to attend and practice a teaching qualifier course for primary schooling, what shows the course elitism. For the women, according to ^{Almeida (2004}), this initial historical moment, was the only way possible to their entering the professional field and having the possibility of economic freedom, even if it represented accepting a profession surrounded by a maternal and mission demeanor. Contrasting the Estadual da Prata, in the researched period, we haven’t found any reference to ENCG’s graduates holding prestige positions neither in the institution itself (principal-secretary and archivist-librarian) nor in other segments of the campinense society.

Through what was exposed, it’s possible to see evidence of the women’s destiny belief, teacher-mother-women to act in the teaching profession, the professional devaluation and men supremacy filling important public positions in society, enlarging the gender segmental difference and its social rising.

In conclusion, we may consider the trajectory here presented of the second public secondary school in the state, the Estadual da Prata, and the first primary teacher qualifier public institution in Campina Grande, the Escola Normal, both destined to the youth teaching it allows us to identify a common thread, whatever it is, the tension between the elitism and the democratization of secondary schooling in the 1950s and 1960s. Although having this limitation, we must positively reinforce the importance the foundation of both these institutions had to the institutionalization of public secondary school in Paraiba’s Agreste.