Comunicação, educação e desenvolvimento: o caso de Coari - AM e os desafios para uma Amazônia conectada

Abstract

This research intends to establish a dialogue between the research areas of communication, education and development, taking as a case studythe city of Coari-AM. We tried to understand the socio-spatial impacts of the policies of insertion of communication technologies, with emphasis on the participation of the educational network of Coari at all its levels. The theme of development is understood as a contradictory movement of capitalism, where the functioning of geographic/urban networks, selects and organizes places, and causes uneven development in cities with external economic logic. This contributes little to the local development of Coari, which is a city rich in mineral resources, with the exploitation of the Urucu Oil and Gas Platform, even so it has social vulnerabilities that do not match its budget profile. In this work we interpret a development model that goes beyond the capitalist type, and that is a parameter of human freedom, and that consists of the effective capacity of citizens to participate and choose how to act in political and social processes. Through a fair, balanced and available educational model, it is expected that people and their intellectual training and workforce, promote social transformations that bring the well-being of all. We noticed that in Coari, local development is no longer boosted in part by its economic model, because it is based on oil exploration that meets the national and international demands of neoliberal development. Meanwhile, this is intensified by the fact that the large infrastructure of the exploration takes place outside the urban area, under the influence of its municipal headquarters. Therefore, it is necessary to verify the role of Coari in the urban network of the state of Amazonas and its intra-urban relations, where the education network exhibits part of these peculiarities. In this area, students from rural areas and riverside floating students carry out continuous transit to the urban area, in order to continue their studies, since state and municipal secondary education networks are concentrated in the urban area. We verified the aggravation of the mentioned challenges, during the Covid 19 pandemic, in the face of an unstable and inaccessible communication infrastructure for a considerable part of the population of Coari. This reveals the need for improvement in this sector, considering the needs for continuing education and better structuring of basic education schools, research institutes, universities and other institutions that provide important services to the local population. We note the need for efficient articulation between the public and private sectors, in order to solve problems related to connectivity and digital inclusion. It is also important to take advantage of educational and research institutions to find solutions that are compatible with local needs. In this way, the great projects in the Amazon must be questioned and thought under the logic endogenous to their space. Coari is an example of a challenge for a connected Amazon, in every way.