Paulo Freire

Freire refined the traditional education methods beginning in the late 1950s during literacy campaigns among the peasants in the poverty-stricken northeast of Brazil. He propounded them in his best-selling book, "Pedagogy of the Oppressed" in 1970.

Despite Freire's worldwide renounce as progressive educationist, his Brazilian professional world collapsed in 1964, after a rightwing military coup in his homeland supported by USA. He was jailed for 75 days as a subversive and spent more than 15 years in exile. Brazil stayed under military rule for two decades -- during which the government banned his theories on education.

During his exile, his ideas came to be better known outside Brazil. His exile years were spent mainly in Geneva. He also established critical literacy programmes in Chile and Nicaragua and in the nations of Portuguese-speaking Africa, and lectured widely.

He returned permanently to Brazil under a political amnesty in 1980. After returning to Brazil from exile, he was a professor of education for some years at the Catholic University of Sao Paulo, and the posts he held in Brazil included serving for a time as General Coordinator of the national plan for adult literacy. He actively involved in democratic politics by establishing workers' party, which is now in power in Brazil led by Lula da Silva.

By late 1980s, Freire's techniques had been put into use in the United States by black, Hispanic and feminist organisations carrying out literacy programmes or training teachers. His liberating education theory and practice has been widely used in many countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia.

He wrote two dozen books, among which popularly known are Cultural Action for Freedom, Education for Critical Consciousness, Politics of Education, Pedagogy in Process: The Letters to Guinea-Bissau, Pedagogy of Hope, etc. He received 31 honorary doctoral degrees from home and abroad.

He died on the 2nd May 1997 leaving behind a legacy of education of political nature for the emancipation of the oppressed people.

Shazzad Khan is with ITDG Bangladesh (Shazzad@itb.bdmail.net).