Manoel de Andrade, founder of PRECE (Programa de Educação em Células Cooperativas), flew in from Ceará to be honored at the Tenth Brazilfoundation Gala. During his visit in New York, Manoel had opportunity to speak about the cooperative learning method that has granted over 500 students from rural Ceará access to university.
The talk had the presence of Leona Forman, BrazilFoundation’s founding president and Maestro Vale, from the Instituto Muscial Arte Show Vigia.
Manoel de Andrade is one of 10 children from a family of farmers in the rural community of Cipo, in the state of Ceará. He was taken by his grandmother to Fortaleza at the age of 9 to study, and went on to study chemistry at university. Immediately after becoming a professor at the Federal University of Ceará, Manoel became deeply involved with his hometown community, organizing study groups with youths who had ceased studying and encouraging them to complete their high school degrees and attend university. In return, the students who passed their college entrance exams and went on to university were encouraged to take what they had learned and organize study groups in their own communities.
Focused not only in generating intellectual capital, but also socioeconomic development in his home state, Manoel’s method has reached over 2,000 students. Manoel reminded guests that dreams only come true when they are shared. And this dream, we share with pride.
