How a public school in Cubatão ended its routine of drugs and violence and was rewarded as one of the ‘best in the world’

Around the school, which began operating in 2014 to accommodate children from the new community, there was not much structure: a forest, a river and a few houses. As it was an isolated area, at the back of the neighborhood, it was common for people from outside the school community to invade and use the space to use drugs.

“It was common for us to arrive with cocaine pins, used condoms, used clothes, sheets, bottles of alcohol, that sort of thing,” the director says. “On my second day as principal, my office was stoned.”

At the start of 2016, the school had only 116 students enrolled, a small number compared to the building’s capacity.

“Half of the students had requested a transfer because they didn’t want to study here, because of the violence, because of the attacks. Because of the fruits of the invasions. And then I found out that the school was known as Parque dos Pesadelos or Parque do Terror.”

Régis then set himself the ambitious goal of transforming one of the most vulnerable schools in the region into the best school in the state within five years.

Portuguese teacher Maria de Lourdes Amorim, who has been teaching for 32 years, doubted this promise.

“Imagine, a boy from São Paulo speaking to a group of teachers older than him, with more experience in education? We looked at him and said, ‘Are you crazy?'” the teacher recalls.

The first step was to rebuild the basics: walls, floors, furniture. Lacking sufficient funding to resolve most of its structural problems, the school sought support from private companies. They mailed 135 letters. They managed to raise R$100,000.

To get closer to the neighborhood, the school board and teachers created preparatory courses for entrance exams and competitive exams and opened the school to the community on weekends.

Ana Gabriela Lima, a resident of the neighborhood, saw the birth of the school. Her oldest son was in the first class and she was part of the first team of volunteers.

“The school needed this support. So I called on mothers to help me. We came, cleaned the school, went to the kitchen, helped with whatever the teachers asked,” she says, who now works at the school as a caregiver for students with disabilities.

The full-time school has expanded its curriculum beyond the traditional curriculum. Today, there are 23 projects ranging from cooking to sports uncommon in public schools, such as badminton and figure skating.

“At the same time, we started to listen to the students, to have a more humanized view, to really focus on them,” explains Régis.

For students, this diversity of practices has modified their relationship to the school space and the full-time study regime.

“At first I thought it was just a classroom, so I didn’t like it very much,” says Ester Silva, 12, who has been studying at Parque dos Sonhos for 7 years.

“But then the school started having new projects and today it’s really cool, because we’re not just in the classroom.”

The student found her place in theater classes, which take place during the last classes of the day.

For the director, the most transformative project was inspired by a Cuban education model: visiting families in their homes.

Entitled “School comes to your home”, the project identifies students with attendance or indiscipline problems and organizes a meeting with their guardians on the weekend.

It is a way of understanding the lives of students beyond the walls of the school, knowing that many of them go through precarious conditions to access school.

“It’s a way of putting yourself in the student’s shoes, seeing their difficulties and seeing what their accommodation is like,” explains Régis. “There are a lot of issues that teachers often don’t see. »

The school corridors also tell a story. On each classroom door in Parque dos Sonhos there is historical graffiti linked to the fight for human rights.

Figures such as the Indian Mahatma Gandhi, the South African Nelson Mandela, the Pakistani Malala Yousafzai, the Uruguayan Pepe Mujica and the Brazilians Marielle Franco and Paulo Freire.

Names that have already been the target of criticism in a context of political polarization, notably Escola Sem Partido, a movement which advocates the end of “ideological indoctrination” in schools.

The leaders serve as inspiration for one of the school’s most important educational pillars: Nonviolence Week.

Held annually in October, the event includes conversation circles, studies of peace icons, and restorative justice practices. According to the director, the proposition goes well beyond just being nice.

“Non-violence is not turning the other cheek. Non-violence is questioning the system that oppresses you,” says Régis.

The principal says he does not fear ideological criticism and says the school’s goal is unity.

“Here is a school where we start from the principle, not of what differentiates us, not of everything that separates us, but of what unites us. I listen to everyone, whether it is the right, the left, the center, the extreme right, the extreme left.”

News that the school was a finalist for the World’s Best School 2025 award and, later, that it had been one of the winners, was greeted with euphoria in September by students at the school court.

“It was very moving. There were people crying. I myself was very moved when we learned that we were still in the top. It made me want to cry,” says Ester, a 7th grade student.

The transformation that has made the school now internationally recognized has also had an impact on academic results.

In a decade, the school went from a result of 2.2 on the Idesp (an indicator that assesses the quality of schools in the state of São Paulo) to 4.6.

Although this is a score that still does not place Parque dos Sonhos first in the state rankings in absolute numbers, as was the director’s goal, it is a jump that represents an evolution of almost 100% in learning.

However, for teachers, the numbers only tell part of the story. Success is often measured in lives saved and futures saved.

“Our school has evolved. The State asks for figures, because it is with them that we work. But for us, the important thing is to know how our students are today, how our students will be tomorrow,” reflects teacher Maria de Lourdes.

The principal emphasizes that the school has become a social welfare refuge.

“We had four cases where girls in the tutoring class said they were being mistreated. Getting a girl to expose a problem at home is very important. School should be a place where children feel safe,” says Régis.

“What’s exciting to see about this whole process is how schools can be a point of transformation.”

The principal recognizes that not everything is perfect and that the school still has areas for improvement.

But he looks back to see how far it has come and says the future promises even greater expansion with the merger with the neighboring school.

“Imagine a school that in 2016 was on the verge of closing because it had no students and will start in 2026 with 1,200 students. It’s exciting.”