História da educação básica na Guiné-Bissau: a construção de um sistema educacional pós-colonial (1974-1980)

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This thesis investigates the reconstruction process of the basic education system in Guinea-Bissau between 1974 and 1980, from the achievement of independence to the coup d'état that ended the initial revolutionary cycle. The study analyzes how education was elevated to a strategic sector for national sovereignty, serving as a tool for the materialization of the "New Man" ontology proposed by Amílcar Cabral. Through a historiographical and documentary review, it discusses the transition from the "school of struggle" to the "state school," highlighting the implementation of innovative models such as the Pilot Schools and the influence of Paulo Freire's liberation pedagogy. The research demonstrates that, although Luís Cabral's government achieved unprecedented school massification and the Africanization of the curriculum, the project faced severe structural paradoxes. Among these are the lack of qualified teaching staff (popular teachers), financial constraints, and the linguistic impasse between Portuguese—maintained as the language of unity—and Crioulo, the language of national identity. It is concluded that this period represented a pedagogical utopia of unique radicalism, whose legacy of reclaiming historical personality remains the foundation of contemporary Guinean education, despite the pragmatic-bureaucratic retreat observed after 1980.