The traditional school Liceu Coração de Jesus, located in Campos Elíseos, downtown São Paulo, will suspend teaching activities from next year. With 137 years of history, the school will stop receiving students in 2023 due to financial problems and a drop in the number of students. The day care center and the shelter, two social actions carried out by the institution with the City Hall, will continue to be carried out.
According to Father Cássio Rodrigo de Oliveira, spokesman for the Salesian Province of São Paulo, the decision was taken because the school is not able to maintain itself financially due to the drop in enrolled students. “With few students, it becomes unsustainable,” he said. The region’s insecurity is also a factor cited.
At the moment, Liceu Coração de Jesus has less than 200 students enrolled. The school, which once had around 3,000 students and made enrollment available for the undergraduate course, today only offers Elementary School and only the 3rd year of High School.
“The decision has been under consideration for some time. It wasn’t taken overnight and I can’t even say that it was defined for one reason alone. It is a context, a set of factors”, said the priest.
The lack of public security around the school contributed to the decrease in the number of students attended by the Lyceum, according to the spokesperson. But he stressed that it is not the only reason that explains the problems that led the institution to suspend education for students.
“That [falta de segurança] is also in context. Parents are also concerned, even though they know we have internal security. And when we are not aware of the interior (of the school), we are frightened by the (external) scenario. So it definitely does. But it’s not the main reason,” he said.
Liceu Coração de Jesus is located 500 meters from Praça Princesa Isabel, which recently served as a shelter for Cracolândia. The previous address was in Luz, also in the center of the city.
A series of police operations in the region, launched in the first half of this year, dispersed the group, which ended up concentrating on Rua Helvétia and Santa Ifigênia.
Parents and students were notified of the suspension decision on August 4th. According to the school, students currently studying at the college may be relocated to other institutions that belong to the Salesian Brasil Network of Schools (RSB-Escolas), such as Santa Inês schools, in Bom Retiro, and also Santa Teresinha and Mazzarello. located in Santana, north of the capital.
Teachers were also warned. However, the relocation of educators and other employees to other Salesian schools in the network is not guaranteed, according to Father Cássio Rodrigo de Oliveira.
The director of Liceu Coração de Jesus, Father José Adilson Morgado, also confirmed in the meeting with the parents that the school was suffering from a lack of students.
“It is not without pain that we have to take on difficult moments in history. In recent times, we have reduced the number of students and attendance and it is a delicate situation,” she said.
Daycare and shelter continue
In a note, the school states that the decision to suspend teaching activities was taken due to a “provincial resizing that has been reflecting the performance of the Salesians in the state of São Paulo” and stated that the institution will continue “serving the vulnerable population. Social”.
In addition to the educational arm, the school also offers philanthropic services through a day care service and a shelter that serves, respectively, about 100 and 55 people, both operating through an agreement with the City Hall.
The Sagrado Coração de Jesus parish will also not have its operations changed.
intensified security
When questioned about the security problems in the school’s region, the City Hall replied that it has expanded the service for chemical dependents and reduced the flow of people who consume drugs on the streets of São Paulo, and that the referral of users to specialized services “has increased”. almost five times between January and July” this year.
In the same statement, the Executive informed, through the Municipal Department of Urban Security, that the Metropolitan Civil Guard carries out community and preventive policing in the Nova Luz region 24 hours a day, and that the team maintains two fixed Community Bases in the Center, one in Vale do Anhangabaú and another in Praça da Sé.
To the report, the Secretary of Public Security of the State of São Paulo (SSP-SP) stated that policing in the center was also intensified and that the Civil Police, this year alone, arrested 325 suspects for robberies carried out in the region.
The SSP also reported that the 1st Central Sectional Police Station detained 143 people through Operation Caronte, launched to combat drug trafficking in Cracolândia.
Source: CNN Brasil
