Instituto Ramacrisna has already received 55 young people in compliance with socio-educational measures, rescued from child labor and in institutional care

Thiago Euzébio is one of the best in Cruzeiro’s football team, which has just become champion of the 2022 Mineiro Championship. In the athlete’s routine, which includes hard training and close matches, there is still time for work and study. At the age of 20, Thiago teaches English classes to low-income people and has just graduated from the heavy machinery mechanics course at Senai. Despite the rush, the young man says he can’t imagine being happier. But it was not always so. Until 2019, he says he was on the “wrong paths”, with the practice of petty crimes and involvement in drug trafficking, which is why he was arrested several times.

In 2020, his story was transformed through the Discover project (Minas Gerais Learning Incentive Program), when he fulfilled socio-educational measures and was referred to the Instituto Ramacrisna. In the organization, he studied photography, made friends, found acceptance and inspiration. “Opportunity knocked at my door and I grabbed it with all my might. I was reborn, I learned things I will never forget. The Discover project and the Instituto Ramacrisna got me out of the wrong life and showed me that I could have a happy future”, he says. he

According to Thiago, at Ramacrisna he was trained and acquired knowledge that led him to be approved in the Senai course, competing for a place with 500 competitors. It was also there that he gained an incentive to start teaching English, as he had mastered the language after living in the United States for six years. The athlete praises the initiatives and guides other young people who are in the same situation he was in one day. “All is not lost for these boys and girls who have done the wrong things. It’s never too late to change for the better. Take advantage of every opportunity that knocks on your door, don’t give up on yourself and value the people who love you and try to help. You are not alone,” he advises.

Launched in 2019, the Discover project brings together federal, state and municipal bodies and institutions, such as the Government of Minas Gerais, the Federal Government, through the Ministry of Labor and Social Security, the Minas Gerais Court of Justice, the Regional Labor Court of Minas Gerais, Senai, among others. It is aimed at teenagers and young people in situations of social vulnerability, primarily those who have left child labor, in compliance with socio-educational measures or in institutional care, aged between 14 and 21 years old.

The Forum for the Eradication and Combat of Child Labor and Protection of Working Adolescents – FECTIPAMG is permanently committed to keeping young people under the age of 16 out of work and forwarding to decent work those who can already work in protected work and apprenticeships. According to the Coordinator of FECTIPA-MG, Elvira Mello Cosendey, FECTIPA-MG has always met the demands of Guardianship Councils and Institutional Reception Institutions for the insertion of young people into the job market through learning. “There is a gentlemen’s term agreed with the Qualifying Entities that participate in FECTIPA-MG, mainly in the RMBH, for the immediate insertion of these young people. These referrals continue to operate and concomitant with the DISCOVER program”.

New stories

In 2020, Instituto Ramacrisna signed the Term of Adhesion to the Technical Cooperation Agreement – ​​Discover Program and began to receive adolescents and young people referred by the project. Since then, there have been 55 calls. At Ramacrisna, they have access to learning courses, such as audiovisual and musicalization. According to Ramacrisna’s project supervisor, Aline Fauez, in addition to the mandatory subjects, the difference is that, in the organization, these teenagers and young people are offered complementary activities such as robotics workshops, chess classes, programming and 3D printer activities. Participants also attend lectures with psychologists, social workers and former students. The Discover project has a workload of 800 hours and duration of 12 months.

For Aline Fauez, it is gratifying to see how dedicated and extremely dedicated Discover students are. And he considers it a privilege to follow their evolution. “We have, for example, students in music education who told us that they never imagined that, one day, they would learn to play the piano, violin or cello and, today, they are in an orchestra, a universe they never even dreamed of”, he says. Is it over there.

The vice president of Instituto Ramacrisna, Solange Bottaro, is one of the enthusiasts of the initiative. “In addition to being trained, they acquire knowledge, a profession and also receive reception, dignified and respectful treatment. They leave transformed, seeing new possibilities to start over. And this is the main objective of Ramacrisna, to transform lives, to give new horizons to those who have none, to renew hopes and dreams”, she is proud.

Building self-esteem

According to Christiane Azevedo Barros, labor tax auditor and Coordinator of the Project for the Insertion of Apprentices at Work, of the Regional Labor Office in Minas Gerais, Discover’s great differential is that it is a project maintained by several hands, where work is effective in network. “Thus, we were able to promote the recovery of citizenship and offer new opportunities to these young people who had several of their rights violated, rights that are constitutionally guaranteed and provided for in the Statute of Children and Adolescents. Therefore, they are in a fragile situation, with self-esteem problems, and have a lot of difficulty in relation to schooling, professionalization and face great prejudices to enter the formal world of work”, he adds.

Referred to Learning courses through Discover, where they learn from appropriate postures to new professions, these teenagers and young people gain new perspectives. “They are trained and sent to work. They start to earn a salary and have access to all labor and social security rights, with the signature of the Work Card, such as vacations, 13th, paid time off, in short, all CLT benefits, guaranteed by law”, she details..

For Christiane, the gains, however, go much further. “The biggest benefit, perhaps, is the building of self-esteem. Socializing with other people is enriching. They leave their world and discover other possibilities, another universe, other paradigms, it is an opening of horizons. They are empowered and begin to see themselves as a subject of duties, but also of rights”, she explains.

In addition to the apprenticeship program, Discover also offers pre-qualification courses and professional qualification courses. To learn more, visit: https://www.descubraaprendizagem.mg.gov.br/