Pataxó Indigenous School Brings Ancestral Knowledge and Commitment to Sustainability into the Classroom

At the Coroa Vermelha Indigenous State School (Colégio Estadual Indígena Coroa Vermelha), located in Santa Cruz Cabrália in southern Bahia, knowledge production emerges from the interaction of different ways of understanding the world, bringing together the ancestral wisdom of the Pataxó people, scientific inquiry, and a strong commitment to sustainability. For example, learning science may involve walking through the forest alongside an Indigenous Elder, listening to a traditional healer explain the use of medicinal plants, observing cassava cultivation, or engaging with community leaders to understand the meaning and significance of the territory.

This experience led the institution to become one of five Brazilian schools selected to participate in the project Transforming Futures: Enhancing Practice for ESD for 2030 through Action Research, an international initiative coordinated by UNESCO across 10 countries to strengthen Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in institutions belonging to the UNESCO Associated Schools Network (ASPnet). In Brazil, in addition to the Coroa Vermelha Indigenous State School, four other schools located in Rio Grande do Sul, Rio de Janeiro, the Federal District, and Pará are participating in the initiative. The project supports educators and educational institutions in strengthening teaching and learning practices for Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) through action research and the use of recently developed guidance tools. As part of this process, participating institutions were selected to pilot and review these tools, focusing on whole-institution approaches to ESD, ESD pedagogies and sustainability competencies, and the assessment of ESD learning outcomes.

Rather than introducing a pre-established model, the project recognized and strengthened practices that were already embedded in the school community’s everyday reality. The selection of the school, located in the Coroa Vermelha Indigenous Territory, enabled it to connect with an international exchange network dedicated to building more sustainable futures. In this context, sustainability, Indigenous identity, and learning were already deeply interconnected.

Participation in Transforming Futures enabled the school community to examine its own practices through the lens of the three toolkits developed by UNESCO. Instead of creating entirely new projects, the school used the tools to identify, document, systematize, and enhance initiatives that were already part of daily school life. Throughout this process, students, teachers, school leaders, families, and Indigenous authorities contributed to testing the applicability of the materials within an Indigenous education context, providing valuable input for their refinement and adaptation to diverse cultural realities.

The school was established in 2010 with the objective of serving Pataxó youth who had completed primary education at the Coroa Vermelha Pataxó Municipal School and previously had to leave their community to attend nearby secondary schools. Today, the institution has expanded its reach through satellite campuses and serves approximately 600 Pataxó students from territories located in the municipalities of Santa Cruz Cabrália and Porto Seguro.

Verônica Santos Pataxó, Pedagogical Coordinator of the Coroa Vermelha Indigenous State School (CEICV), recalls that engagement with the international frameworks led to an important realization: “We were surprised to discover that what the documents presented in theoretical terms was already part of our daily practice.” According to the coordinator, the conceptual tools helped to organize, systematize and give visibility to a pedagogical approach that has been developed throughout the history of the Pataxó people. “Our culture is fundamentally oral. These materials helped us to document and organize this knowledge without abandoning our own educational approach. They enabled us to reconcile traditional and scientific knowledge.”

This integration is reflected in the school’s curriculum. In addition to the subjects required for secondary education, students have access to specific components such as Patxohã, the language of the Pataxó people; Tokmã Kahab (Good Living); the use of medicinal herbs; and other cultural practices directly linked to Indigenous identity.

The experience also encouraged the school to critically reflect on the project’s own tools. During the testing phase, educators identified important convergences between the concepts presented and the principles of Tokmã Kahab (Good Living), while also highlighting the need to adapt certain language and conceptual frameworks to better engage with Indigenous contexts. As a result, beyond benefiting from the tools, CEICV contributed to strengthening them through a perspective grounded in the central role of territory, oral tradition, and ancestry within educational processes.

One of the milestones of this journey was the Science Fair organized around the theme “Pataxó Territory: Ancestral Science for Good Living.” Each class researched a topic related to traditional knowledge, such as agriculture, ancestral medicine, fishing, architecture, astronomy, mathematics, and natural resource management. The primary sources for the research were the very holders of this knowledge, leading students to visit villages and interview shamans (pajés), traditional healers, farmers, artisans, and fishers.

This process had a profound impact on 17-year-old student Suinara Braz, who is in her final year of secondary school. She highlights the school’s distinctive characteristics and the richness of its learning experiences. “We study Patxohã, medicinal herb practices, Tokmã Kahab (Good Living), and other curriculum components that, as far as I know, only our Indigenous school offers. It is through this project that the school provides us with these opportunities,” she says.

The Science Fair became one of the main spaces for testing the Transforming Futures tools. Selected by the project team as a case study within the school, the initiative provided an opportunity to observe in practice how sustainability competencies are developed when students investigate real challenges within their territory, engage in dialogue with Elders, and connect traditional and scientific knowledge.

Reflecting on her class’s agriculture and sustainability project, which focused on cassava (traditionally known as mucunã), Suinara describes how the learning process combined research on cultivation practices with the preparation of traditional foods. “My class was responsible for the agriculture component. We researched planting methods, preparation techniques, and the entire history of cassava,” she explains. The students visited Juerana Village to learn directly from cacica (indigenous community leader) Dores. “The Elder had the opportunity to share her knowledge with us, and we also had the opportunity to share our knowledge with her. We applied what she had taught us and then passed that knowledge on to our classmates who were not able to join us that day.”

The experience prompted the young student to reflect on the deeper meaning of sustainability in the daily life of her community. “Sustainability is closely linked to our people. I believe it represents the bond our people have with nature. When our relative was teaching us how to cultivate crops, at no point did we exploit nature. We wait for Mother Earth, Mother Nature, to give us what she can provide, and in return we give back and never abuse nature.”

The search for knowledge from Elders was also central to the experience of student Otávio de Almeida Gama, who participated in a project dedicated to ancestral medicine. He emphasizes the responsibility of Indigenous youth to preserve their history. “We spoke with a pajé (traditional healer and spiritual leader) and a traditional healer. As Indigenous youth, we have a duty to seek out this knowledge, which our Elders inherited from their own ancestors, so that it continues to live on,” he says. For Otávio, direct engagement with the guardians of memory transforms the educational experience: “It is an incredible experience because we learn directly from those who live this knowledge every day.”

The natural coexistence of different ways of producing knowledge also drew the attention of mathematics teacher João Rodolfo Silva Pinheiro. A researcher in ethnomathematics, Rodolfo has worked in Indigenous school education since 2009 and joined the institution in 2025, during the implementation of the Transforming Futures project. Inspired by the work of Brazilian mathematician Ubiratan D’Ambrosio, he believes that the central challenge has always been fostering dialogue between the traditional knowledge of the Pataxó people and scientific knowledge. Upon arriving at the school, he realized that this integration was not merely a pedagogical aspiration but an everyday reality.

“There is a very natural balance between science and culture. I noticed that approximately half of the time is devoted to scientific content and half to traditional cultural practices. This was not planned in a formal way; the balance has simply been internalized by the school community,” he explains.

In recent years, the school has also begun welcoming non-Indigenous students. For Suinara, this coexistence within the educational environment has helped challenge misconceptions about Indigenous Peoples.

“We recognized the importance of non-Indigenous students also studying in our school. When they see with their own eyes who we really are, I believe many of the stereotypes that unfortunately persist in contemporary society are broken down,” she says.

Looking to the future, the young student emphasizes her commitment to ensuring the continuity of this educational approach.

“I will continue to advocate for the Coroa Vermelha Indigenous State School to maintain projects like these, because future generations truly need to know our people and understand who we are. This contributes in an extraordinary way to strengthening the identity of the Pataxó people.”

While students often describe sustainability in terms of respect for nature, for community leader Kapimbara Pataxó (Amilton Alves dos Santos), it is intrinsically linked to the guarantee of land rights.

“What I always advocate for, so that our people can live well, is the demarcation of our land. Land must never be negotiated; it exists for the livelihood and use of our people,” he says.

Kapimbara argues that technological resources should be embraced as tools for advancing Indigenous rights, without compromising cultural identity.

“Technology is a window to the world, provided we learn how to use it. Today, Patxohã is taught in schools thanks to research conducted with our Elders. That is how we preserve who we are.”

In practice, the community leader translates this commitment into voluntary action. He maintains a tree nursery at his own home and conducts environmental education activities with students from the school.

“We show students that it is easy to cut down a tree, but very difficult to make one grow. Afterwards, we return to the classroom to discuss conservation, preservation, and sustainability.”

For Kapimbara, environmental awareness is cultivated through hands-on experience.

“I do my part as a father, a grandfather, and an Indigenous person. It may be a small contribution, but it is a small act of goodwill that is producing results.”

The experience of the Coroa Vermelha Indigenous State School within the Transforming Futures project reaffirms that building more sustainable pathways requires valuing local knowledge and recognizing ancestral wisdom that predates contemporary concepts of sustainability. By testing, adapting, and evaluating the tools developed by UNESCO, the school demonstrated that the principles of Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) become more meaningful and effective when they engage with the cultural, territorial, and community contexts in which learning takes place.

The international initiative was developed by UNESCO to advance the implementation of ESD within the framework of the 2030 Agenda, at a time when education systems worldwide are facing increasingly complex environmental, social, and economic challenges.

ESD plays a vital role in valuing local knowledge while equipping learners with the competencies, attitudes, and values needed to address these challenges. In Santa Cruz Cabrália, learning is built every day through the interaction of the classroom, the village, and the natural environment, demonstrating that science and ancestry do not stand in opposition to one another. Rather, together they strengthen the future of the community.