Policies for textbooks during military dictatorship: Colted and Fename¹

This paper reviews the establishment and accomplishments of the Technical Book and Textbook Committee - Colted - and the National Foundation for School Supplies - Fename. These two agencies were created simultaneously in the 1960s; however, they had different policies for textbooks. While Colted was intended to encourage the expansion of the book industry, Fename should produce textbooks for distribution or sale at cost price. This paper revealed that the establishment of such agencies responded to the discussions about the urgent need of organizing the education expansion, with the increase of school population and the textbook related problem. Moreover, their policies followed Unesco guidelines, which pointed out the incentive to produce textbooks by private publishing houses, in addition to assist poor students.

textbook; Fename; Colted

Neste artigo se analisa a constituição e realizações da Comissão do Livro Técnico e do Livro Didático e da Fundação Nacional do Material Escolar. Os dois órgãos foram criados pelo MEC nos anos 1960, mas possuíam diretrizes diferentes para os livros didáticos. Enquanto a Colted tinha o objetivo de estimular a expansão da indústria do livro, a Fename deveria produzir materiais didáticos para distribuição ou venda a preço de custo. O estudo revelou que a criação dos órgãos respondiam aos debates sobre a urgência de se organizar a expansão do ensino, com o crescimento do público escolar e o consequente problema do livro didático. As políticas seguiam ainda as orientações da Unesco, que indicavam o incentivo à produção de manuais pelas editoras privadas, além da assistência aos estudantes carentes.

livro didático; Fename; Colted

This paper reviews the establishment and accomplishments of the Technical Book and Textbook Committee - Colted - and the National Foundation for School Supplies - Fename. These two agencies were created simultaneously in the 1960s; however, they had different policies for textbooks. While Colted was intended to encourage the expansion of the book industry, Fename should produce textbooks for distribution or sale at cost price. This paper revealed that the establishment of such agencies responded to the discussions about the urgent need of organizing the education expansion, with the increase of school population and the textbook related problem. Moreover, their policies followed Unesco guidelines, which pointed out the incentive to produce textbooks by private publishing houses, in addition to assist poor students.

textbook; Fename; Colted

El artículo analiza la constitución y los logros de la Comisión de libros técnicos y libros de enseñanza de la Fundación Nacional del material escolar. Las dos instituciones fueron creadas al mismo tiempo en la década de 1960, pero tenían diferentes políticas para los libros de enseñanza. Mientras el Colted está dirigida a promover la expansión de la industria del libro, la Fename debería producir libros de enseñanza para su distribución o venta por el precio de coste de su producción. El estudio ha revelado que la creación de las dos instituciones son una respuesta a los debates acerca de la urgencia de la organización de la expansión de la educación, el aumento de público en la escuela y el problema del libro de enseñanza. Las políticas seguían las orientaciones de la Unesco que indicaban el incentivo para aumentar la producción de los manuales por editores privados, más allá de la asistencia a los estudiantes necesitados.

libro de enseñanza; Fename; Colted

Résumé

L'article analyse la Constitution et les réalisations de la Commission sur le Livre Technique et Livre Didactique et de la Fondation Nationale des Fournitures Scolaires. Les deux organes ont été créés par le Ministère de l'éducation et de la culture - MEC - dans les années 1960, mais ils avaient des lignes directrices différentes pour les manuels scolaires. Tandis que le Colted avait pour objectif de stimuler l'expansion de l'industrie du livre, le Fename devrait produire des matériels didactiques pour la distribution ou la vente à prix. L'étude a révélé que la création des agences ont répondu aux débats sur l'urgence d'organiser le développement de l'enseignement, avec la croissance des écoles publiques et le conséquent problème de manuels scolaires. Les politiques suivaient les directives de l'Unesco, qui indiquaient l'encouragement de la production de manuels pour les éditeurs privés, ainsi que l'assistance aux étudiants nécessiteux.

Mots-clé
manuel; Fename; Colted

Introduction

During the Brazilian military dictatorship, the ministry of Education established two different, and concurrently organized, policies for textbooks. With the creation of the Technical Book and Textbook Committee - Colted - in 1966, the government could encourage and control the market of textbooks. While the National Foundation for School Supplies - Fename - established through law n. 5.327 in 1967, to replace the National School Supply Program, was responsible for the preparation of textbooks that were distributed to poor students. This paper seeks to review the development of these two policies for textbooks, implemented in the late 60s and its development during the 70s.

To conduct this study, the arguments of Choppin (1998, 2004), Bittencourt (2005) and Munakata (2003) has been used as reference on the matter of textbooks as part of the school culture, a tool to transfer contents and methods of the subjects taught in school. Due to its particular feature linked to the school universe, Choppin (2004) emphasizes the importance of reviewing educational policies for this cultural object, which plays a central role in the educational process, thus creating "powerful tools for national, linguistic, cultural and ideological unification - moreover, standardization" (Choppin, 1998, p. 169).

The textbook is then different from other types of publications, therefore, demands exclusive regulations to control its production, its form, the knowledge conveyed, its distribution and even its use. Due to such specific feature Choppin highlights the need for studies focusing educational policies for textbooks as, according to the author, "the legislative and regulatory context, which affects not only the existence and structure, but also production of textbooks, is an essential, preliminary condition to any study about the school edition" (2004, p. 561). Addressing the Brazilian case, Bittencourt observes that textbooks in the country "have always been evaluated according to specific criteria throughout the history of education" (2005, p. 300). Despite the considerable importance of policies for textbooks, as he conducted a survey about the investigations into the textbooks in Brazil, Munakata found a scarcity of studies focused on policies for textbooks (2003, p. 10).

As it can be noticed, reviewing the education policies for textbooks allows you to enter in the history of tensions involving these places of power² and disputes within these decision-making environments regarding school and school knowledge. In this sense, this paper examines the establishment and major achievements of Colted and Fename, aiming to discuss the role of MEC in two fronts: through the publication of textbooks that were distributed or sold to students and teachers of Brazilian schools, by Fename; and the control and encouragement of the private publishing market, with actions carried out by Colted in partnership with United States Agency for International Development - Usaid. This paper sought to understand the two agencies, the individuals involved therewith and the different ways of regulating the textbook production.

In the research of studies that reviewed the policies for the textbooks in Brazil, two papers that addressed the Colted and some papers that only commented on the existence of Colted and Fename³ have been found. However, none of the investigations deepened the study of the subjects related to these agencies and their effective action to control and produce textbooks. Among the studies about Colted, the work of Krafzik (2006) is highlighted, which described the structure of Colted based on the legislation of the period, works published by the Committee, documentation by Cibec - Inep's Education Library and Information Center - and research made by Munakata (2006), who reviewed the documentation about the Committee located at Inep's Historical and Central Archives. No more detailed research on Fename has been located.

To comprehend aspects of the two agencies that still have not been studied - reconstructing the function and action field of Fename and Colted - a dialogue between the bibliography found and research made in files storing information about the ministry of Education has been held. Regarding Colted - MEC/SNEL/Usaid covenants, minutes of meetings, memos, official letters and evaluations of textbooks - were located at INEP's General and Historical Archive, at CPDOC⁴ and Proedes⁵. The documents referring to Fename - projects, official letters, activity reports and covenants - were located at the National Archives, in Brasilia, Inep's General and Historical Archive, at the Central Archive and Microfilm Service, both MEC's, and Unifesp's Memory and Historical Research Center. To complete this study, the legislation, papers and news released on MEC's official publications - MEC and Education⁶ magazines has been reviewed. In terms of examining the sources, their specific features has been considered, such as MEC's internal circulation documents, as well as officially published papers that were intended to produce positive speeches about the government performance.

The issue of textbook

The creation of Colted and Fename needs to be understood in the context of expanding elementary and high schools and the growth of the textbook market. During the 50s and 60s, discussions about the issue of textbook integrated the environment of debates about the need to rebuild national education⁷ and to control the school system increase, especially the high school education. The expansion of the school system, with the mandatory elementary education established by the Law of National Education Guidelines and Bases, of 1961, in addition to the increasing mobilization of lower classes for access to high school education⁸ generated a significant expansion of children and adolescents in schools. The fast growth of elementary and high school education also exposed the need for a new educational conception regarding these levels of education and a policy that carried out the permanent attendance of students in schools.

The high price of textbooks was considered one of the factors that drove school dropout and, for such reason, it became one of the main issues addressed in Congress, in the press and within the ministry of Education. Discussions about textbooks were based on guidelines presented at the 22^nd International Conference on Public Education, held in 1959, sponsored by Unesco. The recommendations of the Conference emphasized the value of textbooks to improve the quality of teaching, suggesting to countries to promote quality and increase of textbook production by private publishing houses, in addition to carry out the assistance to poor students through a free distribution of textbooks (Filgueiras, 2011).

Throughout the 60s, the social and economic changes brought about changes in the publishing area, which stimulated the growth of textbook industry. At the same time, the textbook preparation and production process has undergone significant changes, having its physical form, reading and use altered (Batista, 2002, p. 555). At that time, consumable textbooks and new teaching techniques have arisen, such as programmed instruction and directed study. With the expansion of schooling and publishing of textbooks, the government began to establish more effective intervention measures through policies for textbook regulation.

As part of these measures, in 1966, the military government created Colted - Technical Book and Textbook Council - with the purpose to "manage and invest resources in the financing and implementation of programs and projects for the expansion of technical book textbooks, in collaboration with the Alliance for Progress" (decree n. 58.653/66). In October of the same year, by the decree n. 59 355/66, MEC changed the name of Colted, which became Technical Book and Textbook Committee. The new agency would serve to "encourage, guide, coordinate and implement the activities of the Ministry of Education and Culture - MEC - related to the production, editing, enhancement and distribution of technical books and textbooks" (decree n. 59.355/66). With the expansion of Colted's duties, its two main purposes were to make textbooks produced by private businesses cheaper and stimulate the growth of book industry.

Just less than a year later, in 1967, the so-called National School Supply Program - CNME -⁹ was converted into Fename - National Foundation for School Supplies - through law n. 5.327. MEC's new agency would function to produce and distribute school supplies and textbooks for the schools, "in order to contribute to the improvement of its quality, price and use" (law n. 5.327/67). The school supplies produced by Fename were distributed or sold at cost price in distribution points that were installed throughout the country. Official documents of Colted and Fename justified the creation of institutions as part of a government action in the scope of textbook production to meet the standards of the International Conferences on Public Education as well as to follow the Law of National Education Guidelines and Bases that provided for students' help through educational assistance, including the distribution of school supplies.

Therefore, the implementation of these two institutions was an attempt by MEC to solve issues that have been on the agenda since the 1950s: to serve the new public school population having lower financial conditions and to regulate publishing market.

The technical book and textbook committee

The change of the name of Technical Book and Textbook Council to Technical and Textbook Committee was justified in the explanatory memorandum of the decree n. 59.355/66. According to the official document, the duties of the former Council did not meet the purposes of the institution, because the duties of the former Council were less focused than those of new Committee, as noted Munakata (2006, p. 77). For this author the initial provisions of the decree n. 59,355/66 emphasized the need for the government to keep an "active and vigilant attitude" and be able to "participate directly, when necessary, in the production and distribution" of technical books and textbooks. On the other hand, Munakata notes that the official document has guaranteed the place of the private publishing market, as government intervention also sought to "guide and encourage free competition," aiming to "intensify production and improve the quality of technical books and textbooks", in addition to lowering the "cost and selling price" and ensure its distribution (Munakata, 2006, p. 77). Then Colted not only stimulated, but also regulated the production of textbooks published by the private market. In this sense, the speech of Colted's president, Edson Franco, explained the two initial purposes of the Committee: "building school libraries; and stimulating the growth of book industry through the production of a large number of technical, educational and recreational works" (apud, Krafzik, 2006, p. 59).

Article 2 of decree n. 59.355/66 has specified the main activities of Colted as follows:

I - With regard to Technical Books and Textbooks, to define guidelines for the creation of editorial program and action plans of the Ministry of Education and Culture; [...] III - to authorize the execution of contracts, covenants and agreements with public and private entities and with authors, translators, editors, print shops, distributors and booksellers; IV - to authorize the provision of assistances and technical services, approving reports about their application or development; V - to promote studies and provide the assistance requested thereof, in view of the purposes specified in this decree; VI - To collaborate with other public or private identical, similar or related agencies, in particular to the Executive Group of the Book Industry - Geil. (decree n. 59.355/66)

The Committee would be headed by an executive director and established in smaller levels: collegiate board, technical advisory board, assessment board, management service and executive coordination service. Colted's collegiate board was the level for maximum resolution of the agency and consisted of nine members: Edson Franco, director-general of the National Education Department, chairman of the Board; Carlos Corrêa Mascaro - director of Inep; Augusto Meyer - director of the National Book Institute; Gildásio Amado - director of High School Education; Lafayette Belfort Garcia - director of Commercial Education; Armando Hildebrand - director of Industrial Education; Esther Figueiredo

Ferraz - director of Higher Education; Walter Saur - superintendent of Agricultural Education of the ministry of Agriculture¹⁰; Cândido Guile de Paula Machado - president of the National Union of Editors; and two advisers to the president of the National Union of Editors, Décio Guimarães de Abreu and general Propício Alves. Ms. Alice Palmer and his assistant, Campbell, both from Usaid have also attended Colted's collegiate board meetings.

The members of Colted's collegiate board were MEC's educators and technicians who have already been working within the Ministry and other government agencies since the 50s; for instance, Armando Hildebrand, former director of the High School Education Authority and the first executive director of National School Supply Program, and president of Educational Board of the Federal District in 1962. Another prominent member was Carlos Corrêa Mascaro, professor of several normal schools of São Paulo, professor of School Administration and Comparative Education at the Philosophy, Sciences and Languages of São Paulo University and former director of the São Paulo Regional Centre for Educational Researches. By the end of the 50s, Carlos Corrêa Mascaro was a signatory of the Once more summoned Manifesto and of the Campaign in Defense of Public School. It is also worth mentioning the professor Gildásio Amado, who was a former teacher at Colégio Pedro II, professor at the National College of Philosophy, former coordinator of the Campaign for Spread and Improvement of High School Education - Cades - and former president of the National Textbook Committee. The lawyer Esther Figueiredo Ferraz had been a member of the São Paulo State Board of Education, from 1963 to 1964, and later would play an important role at MEC, becoming Minister of Education in 1982.

The participation of representatives of Usaid, Miss Alice Palmer and Campbell, has proven the relationship between the creation of Colted and the actions of the Alliance for Progress¹¹, with the establishment of agreements between Brazil and USA in order to fund textbook production. Then, a few months after implementing Colted on January 6, 1967, MEC/SNEL/Usaid covenant was executed, which provided for Brazil/USA cooperation in technical, scientific and educational publications. The covenant would provide 51 million books, during three years, to be freely given to elementary and high schools, in addition to strengthening and expanding the technical book and textbook publishing industry. To accomplish the works, the covenant intended to promote contracts with private publishing houses in order to increase the number of books available for elementary and high schools and higher education and their distribution by the commercial network. The covenant also provided for the publication of textbooks containing subjects still not published in Portuguese, improvement of printing and publishing industry techniques, enhancement of the illustration work and encouragement to new authors. Finally, it was intended to spread the enhancement of teaching techniques so as to improve the use of textbooks and scientific materials.

Usaid would play the role of advising and providing technical assistance of experts, who would work with editors and with MEC to implement the program in different sectors:

distribution, printing, bookbinding, papermaking, layout, preparation and illustration of books, publishing, librarianship, etc., of technical books, textbooks and reference books" and to advise "in agreement with Colted, Brazilian editors in the process of buying copyrights from other publishing houses. (MEC/SNEL/Usaid Covenant)

SNEL should advise MEC on the survey of books available in the market, contribute to the review of their weaknesses and shortcomings, in addition to cooperating with Usaid technicians and its technical assistance, "to improve the preparation, illustration and layout, printing and binding of educational books" (MEC/SNEL/Usaid Covenant). The covenant thus reinforced one of the main purposes of the agreements between MEC and Usaid: to upgrade the teaching industry.

The first plan for implementation of the covenant set forth three projects that would be developed in stages. The entire implementation plan provided for the acquisition and distribution of books of private publishing houses. The initial plan would have a budget of fifteen billion cruzeiros [Brazilian] and provided for the purchase of 2,456 copies of textbook titles already available in publishing houses, for elementary and high schools and higher education, to compose the school libraries. The second project would select the titles under the process of being published in the publishing houses and the third project would seek to encourage the publication of new titles (implementation plan - exhibit to the MEC/SNEL/Usaid Covenant). In order to lay down criteria for the selection of books that would be purchased, Colted established selection committees. Subsequently, in September 1967, Colted's collegiate board created an evaluation advisory group that would be structured together with the National Evaluation Committee - Conac - with state committees, the Technical Book and Textbook State Committee - Celteds - and the State Assessment Committee - Ceac.

During the processes of evaluation and acquisition of textbooks, Colted organized two weeks of study. The first was held in May 1967 and was attended by representatives of state education departments, members of publishing houses, elementary education teachers and universities. According to Colted's release newspaper, the week of studies was aimed at the experience exchange between "teachers, authors, editors, booksellers, education technicians and authorities", with the purpose of setting out the "guidelines for a technical book the textbook policy, with regard to its production, editing, enhancement and distribution" (Internal Rules of Colted's 1^st Week of Studies).

That week was divided in two phases: conferences held by experts from Usaid and working committees that have prepared reports with recommendations for new book titles, elementary, high school and higher education books, libraries and distribution. Colted's 2^nd Week of Study was held in March 1968 with the aim of discussing the goals already achieved by Colted and new goals to be pursued. With the same format of the first week, divided into conferences and working committees, the debates were focused on discussions on the evaluation of textbooks, their correct use in the class and the utilization of Colted libraries.

Colted's documentation allowed to verify the performance of three processes of evaluation, selection and distribution of textbooks. The first two selections of book titles available by publishing houses to compose libraries at elementary and normal schools took place from April to November 1967. The first selection committees have been linked to DNE and Inep and composed of elementary school teachers, professors from teacher training courses, especially from the Education Institutes of Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte, from the Federal University of Minas Gerais and Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, in addition to technicians DNE, CBPE¹² and CRPE/MG¹³. The coordinator of the evaluation was Elza Nascimento Alves, Inep's technician who participated, during the 50s, in the research developed with CBPE on educational guidance and school organization¹⁴.

The first selection of books for libraries in primary schools has caused some discomfort among authors and editor. Accordingly, in August 1967, Inep/DNE Committee issued a long report in response to the letter from teacher Theobaldo Miranda Santos, who placed restrictions to the books selected by the Selection Committee. According to the teacher, the evaluation committee was influenced by the North American pedagogical mission, referring to the members who attended Pabaee. Still in 1967, in December, the editors of didactic series Joy of reading, published by Abril Cultural, requested a new critical study of its three volumes, which had been excluded from the selection.

The third evaluation and selection of textbooks was carried out with the aim of distributing them for the students to use in the three levels of education. Unable to provide textbooks for all students in the country, Colted developed a pilot plan for the year 1968, regarding the purchase of books to be distributed to the students at schools of the capitals. To carry out the selection of textbooks, Colted established an entire structure, which started with the sending out of questionnaires to school teachers so they should select their preferred books. Having those questionnaires, the state education departments would resend to MEC the list of textbooks deemed more appropriate. Then, Colted's Evaluation Group would review technically the books and provide a report on the evaluation with a list of approved and recommended books for purchase and a list of the non-recommended ones.

The working group for evaluation was composed of technicians who had already participated in previous reviews, plus new teachers. The Committee remained coordinated by Elza Nascimento Alves and was divided by areas of teaching: Language, Social Studies, Mathematics and Sciences¹⁵. Again the evaluators were part of the teaching staff of public elementary education, from the Institute of Education in Rio de Janeiro and other normal schools, education technicians from MEC, DNE, CBPE or the Guanabara Education Department, plus teachers from the experimental schools linked to CBPE¹⁶.

The final report of the Evaluation Committee highlighted that the evaluations were carried out with the aim of identifying the most recurring weaknesses and pointing out measures for the improvement of textbooks. Pursuant to the report, the textbooks presented a significant amount of errors and poor graphic quality. Overall, the evaluations highlighted some points in common, including the critique on teaching methods considered outdated, lack of proper illustrations, undeveloped or inadequate content to the education level, lack of encouragement to the children's reasoning, lack of activities for the development of study habits and skills, lack of development for the acquisition of scientific knowledge, memorization exercises, conceptual and vocabulary mistakes, low-quality graphics, and other problems.

The review of the textbooks evaluations showed that the evaluators followed the pedagogical redevelopments of that time: the Modern Mathematics Movement, the teaching of Sciences through observation and experience, the concentric method used in Social Studies and the end of the syllabic method for literacy, with the understanding of language as a vehicle of communication. Practically all members of the Evaluation Committee had participated in educational projects of the 50s and early 60s held at Inep, by CBPE and CRPE/MG, with emphasis on discussions about the curriculum and teaching methodologies¹⁷. In partnership with Pabaee, these technicians formulated methodological proposals and curriculum guidelines, introducing, as emphasized by Souza (2008), "the global literacy method, the introduction of modern mathematics, the integration of subjects such as Social Studies and the Introduction to Sciences based on scientific method" (p. 246). It is worth, thus, verifying that these technicians were called to run all Colted's projects related to educational models, including the evaluation of textbooks.

The impact of the evaluation report of textbooks again caused discomfort among publishing houses, explained by internal discussions triggered in Colted collegiate board. The minutes of the meeting held in December 1968 presented the questioning of the SNEL's president with regard to the depth of evaluation, because 284 book titles had been rejected causing great impact for publishing houses. According to it, Colted's collegiate board had not decided to carry out an evaluation of the pedagogical aspects of the textbooks, but only the ideological and material aspects. In the reply to SNEL report, Elza Nascimento Alves highlighted that the Evaluation Group had autonomy to develop the selection criteria and that the ideological "constitutional-democratic and philosophical" aspects had been focused as much as the economic and material aspects. MEC's technician further explained that the criteria adopted for the evaluation of textbooks corresponded to "the modern teaching techniques for subjects of elementary education". According to Elza Nascimento, the evaluators could not have approved textbooks prepared according to an "obsolete" teaching technique. Finally, she emphasized that the ideological aspects were not the only ones to be considered, because there was a whole education philosophy "recommending what was intended to obtain through the educational process"¹⁸ with which the books should be consistent. Upon clarifications, Colted's Collegiate Board approved the criteria and evaluation performed.

The pilot plan of the Training Program for Elementary School Teachers began to be applied by the end of 1968 with the intention of improving the selection and use of textbooks. The program guidelines were developed by a working group comprised by professors of the Institute of Education in Rio de Janeiro, technicians of Colted and Inep, again coordinated by Elza Nascimento Alves. The courses would be aimed at providing the teacher "elements to better use the textbook in the classroom, providing greater pedagogical efficiency from the classes and more effective outcomes from student learning"¹⁹. Two manuals were produced for courses: How to use the textbook, prepared by Samuel Pfromm Netto, Nelson Rosamilha and Claudio Zaki Dib, in programmed instruction format, and The textbook: its use in the class, coordinated by Elza Nascimento Alves.

As of 1969, Colted's works begin to be more strictly inspected. In June of that year, Colted's Board received an anonymous report expressing charges against the manual The Textbook: its use in class to be subversive. Munakata found out that in that year Colted's executive director was replaced by a member of the Army, colonel Ary Leonardo Pereira, who summoned Elza Nascimento Alves to inform "philosophical principles adopted in the preparation of the work" and send to the executive board "other works of yours, or of other co-writers of the work in question, containing philosophical principles" (2006, p. 83). In reply to the summons, Elza Nascimento prepared a ten-p. Report that showed her outrage at the attitude of Colted's new executive director, who has accepted said charges:

We decided to prepare this reply only because of your request which, for whatever reasons, has taken into account an anonymous report, obviously made in bad faith; you could have concluded it by a simple confrontation with our work. As for the second part of the request, we clarify that we do not have any other work addressing issues of Education Philosophy. (Letter of Elza Nascimento Alves to Colted's executive director, colonel Ary Leonardo Pereira, sent on June 27, 1969)

This episode showed that times had changed and the military regime would emphasize the intervention and ideological control over the actions of Colted. However, it was not possible to follow up more closely the Committee's activities as from 1970, for the localized documentation became very fragmented. Some official letters indicate that Colted's works continued until 1971, when the agency was liquidated. The reasons for ending the Committee's activities of were not exactly clarified; nonetheless, it was possible to find some evidence. Oliveira et al (1984) reports the existence of a series of scandals occurred in 1971 involving the carriers, publishing houses and manufacturers of the boxes that would build the libraries (p. 56). In an interview given to Krafzik, the vice president of SNEL, general Propício Alves (2006, p. 118), said that the difficult distribution of textbooks was one of Colted's great problems. Although it is not possible to precisely clarify the grounds for the liquidation of the agency, it was found out that, in April 1971, a taskforce was organized to submit a restructuring project of the agencies responsible for the book policies under the Ministry - INL, Fename and Colted. This ordinance pointed out the concern of the military government in reducing the number of agencies, seeking to increase its control over the policies implemented. Pursuant to the instructions of the taskforce, Colted was liquidated on June 9, 1971, upon the decree n. 68,728, and its functions were merged by the National Book Institute. Due to the end of Colted, MEC began a new policy for textbooks, co-edition with the market of private publishing houses.

Fename and the textbooks production

Just over a year after the organization of Colted, MEC established the National Foundation for School Supplies, by law n. 5.327, as of October 2, 1967. The new agency should produce and distribute school supplies and textbooks, "in order to contribute to the improvement of its quality, price and use" (law n. 5.327 / 67). The materials produced by Fename would be distributed or sold at cost price and could be bought in distribution points or by mail. Pursuant to its bylaws, school supplies and textbooks included: notebooks and writing pads; workbooks; pieces, collections and apparatus for the study of school subjects; methodological guides; dictionaries, atlases, encyclopedias and other reference works; supply for audiovisual teaching of subjects in elementary, high school and higher education level (decree n. 62.411, as of March 15. 1968). The Foundation would be managed by a Technical-Advisory Board, an Audit Board and an Executive Board, and would have an industrial complex located in the district of Maria da Graça, in Rio de Janeiro, for the manufacture of the Foundation's supplies.

However, Fename was not an entirely new policy, as Colted. The Foundation was created to replace the National School Supply Program - CNME - organized in 1956, during the government of Juscelino Kubitschek, with the goal of improving the quality of textbooks and serve poor students. The new agency was a reorganization of an already existing policy. Thus, a Foundation and no longer a Program, in a new format, with more administrative and financial autonomy, Fename should expand production and distribution of school supplies that was already performed by CNME. According to the article published in MEC Magazine, the organization of Fename was disclosed with great excitement:

Fename is born, containing provisions that enable it, in the field of production and distribution of school supplies, to have a wider action than its forerunner, namely CNME, legal limitations of which did not allow it to follow up the increase in the consumer market demands of the country, regarding the school industry. (MEC Magazine, n. 41, 1968, p. 30)

Although it was, in some degree, carrying on the policy of previous governments, the transformation of CNME into Fename showed the marks of the military regime, as well as the controversial replacement of the then executive director of CNME, Heloísa Araújo, by the lawyer Humberto Grande in 1970²⁰. Another important fact: it was the rapprochement between Fename and Colted, in spite of being different policies for textbooks. Some individuals participated in both agencies, such as Armando Hildebrand, a member of the Colted's collegiate board, who had been CNME's first executive director, and also the teacher Lydinéia Gasman, a member of Colted's evaluation committee, who would become the author of Fename textbooks as from 1971.

In order to erase the traces of the previous policy, the establishment of Fename was announced as one of the new and great projects of the military government. However, using the same reasons as CNME's, the ministry of Education announced that the nonprofit Foundation would have the purpose of "supplementing the domestic production of teaching materials" (MEC Magazine, 1968, n. 41, p. 30). The issue of textbooks price was readdressed and raised as one of the biggest challenges to be solved in Brazil. Fename then would serve low-income students throughout the country (MEC Magazine, 1968, n. 42, p. 36). The production and sale at cost price of materials produced by FENAME and its role of setting out prices "in the book markets of big cities" (MEC Magazine, 1968, n. 42, p. 37) exposed other guideline of the military government to resolve the textbooks price issue and service to poor students that were different from Colted's guidelines which applied funds to private industry in order to reduce the textbooks price.

Fename kept the production of textbooks and teaching materials published by the extinct CNME, but it sought to produce new book titles, which led to the expansion of its financial transactions. The balance of Fename's production, presented in MEC Magazine, in 1969, indicated the publication of seven million of textbook copies, methodological guides and reference works, from 1956 to 1968, comprising 31 book titles and 74 editions (n. 45. 1969, p. 40). In 1971, a new article in the Educação Magazine pointed out the production of eleven million textbook copies (Educação, n. 1, 1971, p. 43).

Examining said publications allowed us to conclude that, since 1970, Fename has joined the actions of Sudene, Sudesul and Sudam²¹ as part of the goal of "Revolution government III" to collaborate with the development of the country by sending teaching materials to the regions served by the superintendences, mainly in the North and

Northeast regions (MEC Magazine, n. 47, 1970, p. 35). In 1975 the Foundation increased its operation in isolated regions, in need of integration, including the trans-Amazon region, states of Pará, Amazonas, Rondônia, through the Fename/Amazon project, which provided for the production and distribution of teaching materials.

On the p.s of Educação magazine, in order to justify Fename's work of producing and distributing textbooks, the articles thereof emphasized the supplementary aspect of FENAME's actions, especially in the far-flung regions of the country. Its role would be to take textbooks to locations where there were no bookstores. Thus, MEC disseminated that the Foundation's work would represent a patriotic contribution, because it intended to popularize teaching, one of the major goals of the "revolution" (Educação, 1971, p. 43). The repeated emphasis on the supplementary aspect of textbooks published by Fename intended to calm down the private publishing houses, which, since the establishment of the Foundation, have been protesting against the production of teaching materials by MEC (Filgueiras, 2011).

In fact, despite indicating a supplementary aspect, Fename began to increasingly hold the position of the publishing house of the government, with expanded functions, including covenants for the edition and distribution of textbooks and teaching materials in partnership with several public institutions, such as the Federal Council on Education, the Federal Council on Culture, the National Book Institute, the Executive Group of the Book Industry - Geil²²- and the Physical Education Department. Over the 70s, Fename was progressively considered an institution that encouraged the Brazilian patriotic feeling, due to the dissemination of works on the national language, works on moral and patriotism and to the distribution of school books to the most far-flung regions of the country.

The works produced by Fename had two specific features: from 1968 to 1970, textbooks and reference books have been published for the mandatory and complementary subjects of high school education. As from 1971, Fename has started to publish textbooks that were part of the common set of subjects for elementary and high schools, pursuant to the law n. 5.692/71, set forth by the Federal Council on Education. Such published works included geographic and historical atlases, dictionaries, tables of logarithms, workbooks and textbooks, encyclopedias and anthologies. The authors of the textbooks were teachers from traditional high schools - Colégio Pedro II, Institute of Education, Military schools - and teachers from experimental schools established in the 50s - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro's Application School and Colégio Nova Friburgo Getulio Vargas Foundation's School. The group of authors also included professors of General and Special Teaching Techniques from the Philosophy Schools of UFRJ, UFF, Uerj, PUCRJ, FGV, among others. Fename's publications showed the participation of authors who belonged in different places of power: professors from institutions that, since the 19^th century, have been considered legitimate places for the production of speeches on high school education places, as well as professors from new institutions, from Philosophy Schools, of teaching techniques subjects and from experimental schools, which intended to become new places for the production of speeches about school and school knowledge.

In 1976, Fename expanded the scope of its operation to become responsible for the implementation of the Textbook Program - PLD. Since 1971, the program has been carried out by INL, which sought to co-edit and distribute textbooks for elementary and high schools, with the private publishing houses. The transfer of these responsibilities from INL to Fename has not been fully clarified. Oliveira et al (1984, p. 64) states that, for a disagreement with the publishing houses in relation to a proposed development of integrated books, by joining all subjects of a grade or the four grades of a subject, INL's director, Heberto Salles, have required the Institute to be released from the PLD. Anyway, with the new responsibility, Fename accumulated function of publishing textbooks to the funding of private publishing market.

To run the Textbook Program, Fename entered into a covenant with the state education departments. Under said covenant, the federal government would distribute "a certain amount of books to poor students of the official elementary schools network, whereas the states were incumbent upon participating with financial and material contribution" (Oliveira et al, 1984, p. 64). The funds for the program came from the contributions of the federal units and the Domestic Fund for Education Development - FNDE. With the expansion of the co-edition process, the government increased the purchase of books for distribution in public schools, which heavily benefited the book market. In 1978, Fename joined the Program for Education Increase and Improvement - Premen -, which provided for more financial support for the publication of teaching materials. In that same year, the Program of Textbooks for High School Education - Plidem - for the selection of textbooks for high school education, should take as reference the guidelines of the Second Plan for Education Sectors, which provided for the development of new methods, materials and equipment for scientific education (Filgueiras, 2011).

Also in 1978, a new article in the Educação Magazine (n. 28, 1978, p. 121) disclosed a distribution by Fename of about 20 million textbooks within the scope of PLD for Elementary Education, to the benefit of poor students nationwide. The articles published in MEC's official magazine showed that Fename continued to publish, co-edit and distribute textbooks until it was extinguished in 1983. The Student Help Foundation - FAE -, institution which took over all MEC's assistance programs, including those for school meals and textbooks distribution, was established to replace Fename.

Final thoughts

The presentation of the actions of Colted and Fename allowed us to understand two features of the policies for textbooks implemented during the military dictatorship. At the end of the 60s, the Ministry of Education operated in two fronts: it sought to maintain and extend the help for the new school population, regarded as having fewer financial resources, as well as to encourage and regulate the publishing market of school books. Both institutions, Colted and Fename, were established on the grounds of needing to care for poor students and in response to Unesco's recommendations. Nevertheless, Colted was established by MEC in partnership with Usaid and the textbook industry, seeking to encourage private production. On the other hand, Fename was a restructuring of the National School Supply Program, established in 1950, so that the federal government could take over the textbook production.

Colted's performance in the development of projects related to the MEC/SNEL/Usaid covenant was effective to expand the publishing industry of textbooks. Colted's policy for the assistance, purchase and distribution of textbooks has guaranteed the market share for these publishing houses, however it demanded, through the textbook evaluations, the improvement of textbooks quality. Experts recruited to run Colted's projects were MEC technicians and educators who worked in the Brazilian education scenario within the scope of Inep, therefore, they conducted the discussions at the Evaluation Committee while following the pedagogical proposals defended by CBPE and CRPE/MG. Yet, the disapproval of their textbooks did not please SNEL and the publishing houses, which had to reformulate them.

With Fename, the federal government maintained and emphasized another way to carry out the service to poor students: through textbooks produced by a public agency. This action of MEC had two purposes: to effectively achieve the low-income students and far-flung regions, in addition to create competition and cheapen the price of books from private publishing houses. The authors of Fename productions were professors from traditional courses in Rio de Janeiro and new courses of initial training, as well as from experimental schools, which indicated an internal dispute taken place at MEC between different institutions wanting to produce speeches on the school and the knowledge school.

Unlike Fename, Colted failed to keep its project, and it was liquidated in 1971. Despite the evidences, the reasons for such liquidation were not clarified. To replace said Committee, co-edition processes were started, which allowed the definitive growth of the textbook market. On the other hand, Fename remained producing teaching materials over the 70s, even under pressure from institutions representing the private publishing houses, namely CBL and SNEL, which have questioned, several times, Fename's publications, until they have really considered it the government's publishing house²³. At the same time, Fename became the most important decision-making agency regarding policies for textbooks in the military regime, when in 1976, it incorporated the work of co-editing books with private publishing houses. In the early 80s, the setting of educational policies for textbooks performed by the military government showed the rise of new publishing houses which, since 1985. Would be strengthened by the National Textbook Program - PNLD.

Referências

• BATISTA, Antônio Augusto Gomes. Um objeto variável e instável: textos, impressos e livros didáticos. In: ABREU. Márcia (org.). Leitura, história e história da leitura. Campinas: Mercado das Letras/ALB/Fapesp, 2002, p. 529-575.
• BEISIEGEL, Celso de Rui. Educação e sociedade no Brasil após 1930. In: FAUSTO, Boris (org.). História geral da civilização brasileira: o Brasil republicano, v. 4. São Paulo: Difel, 1984, p. 381-416.
• BITTENCOURT, Circe Maria Fernandes. Ensino de história: fundamentos e métodos. São Paulo: Cortez, 2005.
• CERTEAU, Michel de. A invenção do cotidiano. São Paulo: Vozes, 1990.
• COSTA, Bianca Silva. O ensino superior na ditadura militar brasileira: um olhar através da Revista MEC. Porto Alegre: PUCRS, 2009. 125f. Dissertação (mestrado em História). Programa de Pós-Graduação em História, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul.
• CHOPPIN, Alain. Las políticas de libros escolares en el mundo: perspectiva comparativa e histórica. In: SILLER, Javier Pérez; GARCÍA, Verena Randkau (org.). Identidad en el imaginario nacional: reescritura y enseñanza de la historia. Puebla: Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, 1998, p. 169-180.
• CHOPPIN, Alain. História dos livros e das edições didáticas: sobre o estado da arte. Educação e Pesquisa, v. 30, n. 3, 2004, p. 549-566.
• CURY, Carlos Roberto Jamil. Livro didático como assistência ao estudante. Revista Diálogo Educacional. Curitiba, v. 9, n. 26, 2009, p. 119-130.
• FILGUEIRAS, Juliana Miranda. Os processos de avaliação de livros didáticos no Brasil (1938-1984). São Paulo: PUCSP, 2011. 252f. Tese (doutorado em Educação). Programa de Estudos Pós-Graduados em Educação, Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo.
• FONSECA, James Braga; GASMAN, Lydineia. Guia metodológico para cadernos MEC - história. Rio de Janeiro: MEC/Fename, 1971.
• FRANCO, Maria Laura. A política do livro didático a nível de legislação. Plural, ano 3, n. 6, 1980, p. 25-41.
• FREITAG, Barbara et al. O estado da arte do livro didático no Brasil. Brasília: Inep/Reduc. 1987.
• HALLEWELL, Laurence. O livro no Brasil. São Paulo: USP, 1985.
• KRAFZIK. Maria Luiza de Alcântara. Acordo MEC/Usaid: a Comissão do Livro Técnico e do Livro Didático - Colted (1966-1971). Rio de Janeiro: Uerj, 2006. 151f. Dissertação (mestrado em Educação) Programa de Pós-Graduação em Educação, Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro.
• MUNAKATA, Kazumi. Investigações acerca dos livros escolares no Brasil: das idéias à materialidade. CONGRESSO IBEROAMERICANO DE HISTORIA DE LA EDUCACIÓN LATINOAMERICANA, 6, 2003. Anais ... San Luis Potosí: Cihela, 2003, p.1-15.
• MUNAKATA, Kazumi. A política do livro didático no regime militar: da campanha do livro didático e manuais de ensino (Caldeme) à Comissão do Livro Técnico e Didático (Colted) e à Fundação Nacional de Material Escolar (Fename). Relatório técnico, CNPq, 2006.
• OLIVEIRA, João Batista Antônio et. al. A política do livro didático. Campinas: Unicamp, 1984.
• PAIXÃO, Léa; PAIVA, Edil. A americanização do ensino elementar no Brasil? Niterói: UFF, 2002.
• SPOSITO, Marília. O povo vai à escola. São Paulo: Loyola, 1992.

• 1
  Some of the results from my doctoral and postdoctoral researches are herein presented, which have been supported by Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel. A portion of this paper was presented at the 7^th Brazilian Congress of History of Education in 2013.
• 2
  When addressing places of power, I use the assumptions of Michel de Certeau (1990).
• 3
  The papers of Oliveira et al (1884), Franco (1980), Freitag et al (1987) analyzed the legislation of the two agencies. Hallewell (1985), which addressed the history of books in Brazil, shortly indicated the existence of Colted and Fename. Cury (2009), in a paper about the textbook as a help to the student, and briefly pointed out Colted and Fename as the institutions responsible for assisting poor students.
• 4
  CPDOC/FGV - FGV's Center for Research and Documentation of Contemporary History of Brazil.
• 5
  Proedes - Program of Studies and Documentation Education Society, UFRJ.
• 6
  According to Costa (2009), MEC Magazine began to be published by the Ministry of Education in 1956 and its last publication is dated 1970. In 1971, MEC launched the Educação Magazine, which has published the achievements of the Ministry until the 80s.
• 7
  In the late 50s, discussions about the end of the entrance examinations have increasingly intensified, the need to redesign the curricula and basic education programs and the issue of teacher training. With regard to higher education, the urgent need to expand its access and to reform its structure was discussed. Also the debates regarding the adoption of the Law of Educational Guidelines and Bases (Filgueiras, 2011, p. 145) were resumed.
• 8
  To widen the discussion about popular struggles for access to high school education, see Beisegel (1984) and Sposito (1992).
• 9
  CNME has existed since 1956.
• 10
  Decree n. 60,833, 1968, has excluded the participation of the superintendent of Agricultural Education of the Ministry of Agriculture from Colted's collegiate board.
• 11
  The Alliance for Progress was created in 1961 by the United States, in the context of the Cold War, with the purpose of accelerating economic development through financial and technical collaboration in Latin America. According Munakata, Usaid should manage the activities of the Alliance (2006, p. 77).
• 12
  Brazilian Center for Educational Research - CBPE - was organized by Anísio Teixeira, in 1955. with the support of Unesco, with the aim of organizing and publishing researches on cultural and school issues, in order to give the public policies a subsidy for Brazilian education. Linked to CBPE, the Regional Centers for Educational Research - CRPE - were organized and located in Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, Salvador, Recife and São Paulo.
• 13
  Part of technicians of CRPE/MG had participated in the Brazilian-American Assistance Program for Elementary Education - Pabaee - which was created, in 1956, as part of the educational cooperation program between Brazil, represented by Inep, and the United States, to improve elementary education. At least two members of the evaluation committee of the textbooks had integrated Pabaee, Maria Onelita Peixoto and Teresinha Casassanta (Filgueiras, 2011, p. 167). According to Paiva and Paixão, Pabaee seeks to work on teachers training and production of textbooks for the elementary school subjects. Thus, American technicians came to Brazil to teach courses proposing new teaching methods and techniques for teachers, while a group of fourteen Brazilian teachers went to Indiana University to take a training course in "modern methods" (Paixão; Paiva, 2002, p. 61).
• 14
  Among the evaluators, Leny Werneck Dornelles, Lydinéia Gasman, Íris Fádel, Teresinha Casasanta, Helena Lopes, Maria Onelita Peixoto, Maria José Berutti, Generice A. Vieira, Nair F. Tulha, América de Freitas Lima, Newton Dias dos Santos and Maria Olindina Pereira Trindade stood out.
• 15
  Language - Maria Lúcia de Freitas Kohn, Marina de Souza Lima Campelo, Eunice da Conceição Macedo Rosa; Social studies - Ignes da Silva Oliveira, Leny Werneck Dornelles, Maria da Glória Correa Lemos; Mathematics - Madalena Pinho del Valle, Maria Luiza Barbosa, Elvira Pinho del Valle; Sciences - Newton Dias dos Santos, Edna Ricake de Souza, Yvonne Fernandes Tempone.
• 16
  Maria da Glória Correa Lemos and Yvonne Fernandes Tempone were teachers of Guatemala Experimental School, organized in 1954, linked to CBPE's Teaching Improvement Department. Madalena Pinho del Valle, Yvonne Fernandes Tempone, Newton Dias dos Santos and Elvira Pinho del Valle were teachers of Carmela Dutra Normal School, linked to the Guanabara Institute of Education. Newton Dias dos Santos and Edna Ricake de Souza were also teachers at Cecigua, Guanabara Center of Sciences, established for the training of Science teachers.
• 17
  It is worth keeping in mind that the Department for Educational Studies and Researches - Depe - of CBPE produced textbooks for elementary education and for several areas of knowledge, including: Introduction to the study of the elementary school curriculum, by João Roberto Moreira (1955); Language in elementary school (1955), Sciences in Elementary School (1955), Social sciences in elementary school (1955), Mathematics in Elementary School (1955), Games for children in elementary school (1955), Music for elementary school (1955).
• 18
  Discussion included in the minutes of the meeting of Colted's Collegiate Board held on December 6, 1968.
• 19
  Report of Colted's executive officer to the president of Colted's Collegiate Board sent on November 28, 1968.
• 20
  In November 1967, Heloísa Araújo resigned from the position of Fename's executive director due to subversion charges brought by the National Information Service - SNI - in relation to the work Small encyclopedia of moral and patriotism, published by the Foundation. Heloísa Araújo was replaced by Humberto Grande, who has been relating to the military government since the New State government and would become a member of the National Committee on Moral and Patriotism later in 1970.
• 21
  Sudene - Superintendence for the Development of Northeast Region; Sudesul - Superintendence for the Development of Southern Region; Sudam - Superintendence for the Development of Amazon Region.
• 22
  Executive Group of Book Industry - Geil - established in 1966, by the decree n. 58,024, with the purpose of making recommendations to encourage the industry, marketing and spread of books.
• 23
  In 1975. a circular letter sent to the National Publishing Company mentioned Fename as a government's publishing house. SNEL/CBL Circular Letter, about Plindef, located in the collection of the National Publishing Company, from Unifesp's Memory Center.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  Jan-Apr 2015

History

• Received
  25 Jan 2014
• Accepted
  13 Sept 2014