Indigenous peoples of the village of Sagarana occupied last night (19) the  São Judas Tadeu and Salomão Justiniano de Melgar school buildings, which are elementary and high school, respectively. The schools are in the district of Surpresa, circa 350 km from the city of Guajará-Mirim, Rondônia (RO). The group is calling for improvements in education, such as the contracting of new teachers, and offering school transport.

For approximately three months, the 40 indigenous students, who are of the peoples Mon Oro, Oro Waram Xijein, Cao Oro Waje , Oro Nao’, Canoé, Makurap, Djeoromitxi and Aruá have not been attending school because there is no transportation. The high school classes are offered at night and school is 7 km from the Sagarana community.

In mid-April, students and parents from the village sent documents to the municipal Secretariat of Education requesting transport. To date no response has been sent to the community. Faced with the worsening situation, they resolved to demand that urgent solutions be taken by local government.

Problems with access to education in the region of Guajará-Mirim are numerous. There is no high school established in the villages. when there is an elementary school in the communities, they are found to be barely functioning. In addition to school transport, the schools also lack teachers for mathematics, chemistry, physics and sociology.

A commission of the state Secretariat of Education is going to Surpresa in order to converse with the indigenous peoples and negotiate their vacating of the buildings. The commission is formed by the Municipal Secretary of Education, Sandra Mara Marangoni, by Professor Michael Oreyai and state legislator Miguel Sena.

The indigenous leaders as well as the population of the District of Surpresa, who suffer directly from the lack of schools and teachers, say that disoccupation of the building will occur only with the arrival of school transport and the certainty of the hiring of teachers that are needed.