PREFACE
The year 2020 is certainly being a turning point for humanity, in all the aspects of our existence and coexistence, especially for education and, thus, for the entire Federal Network of Vocational, Scientific, and Technological Education.
Over a hundred years old, the Brazilian vocational and technological education had to adapt and restructure itself in light of the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. To respect the necessary social distancing, the institutions suspended their on-site educational and administrative activities; nonetheless, they kept contributing to facing the increasing advance of the infection in the country, while also seeking to reinvent their own educational activities.
The institutions within the Federal Network (38 Federal Institutes of Education, Science and Technology; 2 Federal Technological Education Centers, and the Colégio Pedro II), supported by their faculty, technical-administrative staff, students, and other volunteers, joined their scientific and technological knowledge and skills with their sensitivity and responsibility before the social drama and need to face the greatest public health problem of this century, in order to minimize its harmful impacts on human life in the different and peculiar territories of its institutional scope.
Our excellent, f ree, public, and socially referenced model of education has carried out a myriad of initiatives, with both public funding and private donations, by producing and developing technological devices to help and support the Brazilian population in the fight against COVID-19, as well as implementing a set of solidary social actions.
In large and small cities, as well as in remote places where the federal, state and municipal governments often struggle to reach, the Federal Network institutions played their role, so that health professionals could do their job, small rural farmers could still sell their products, and students and their families would not starve.
This digital book “Federal Network of Professional, Scientific, and Technological Education in the fight against COVID-19” details several activities, such as the production of 70% alcohol, the manufacturing of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), as well as repairing medical ventilators, and the creation of applications to monitor the pandemic evolution.
Despite the difficulties and uncertainties of the last four months, we can rightly affirm that investments in education, science, and technology are essential for structural transformations to take place in a country, for the benefit of its institutions and population. Therefore, we wish that such positive actions and the funding of excellent, f ree, public educational institutions may last and be intensified in the post-pandemic period.
Fraternal regards
Jefferson Manhães de Azevedo
Rector of the Instituto Federal Fluminense (IFF)
Coordinator of the International Relations Chamber and the UNESCO/UNEVOC
Center within the Conselho Nacional das Instituições da Rede Federal de Educação Profissional, Científica e Tecnológica (Conif).
ISBN978-65-87500-02-7 (e-book)
1. COVID-19. 2. Coronavírus. 3. Educational action. I. Conselho Nacional das Instituições da Rede Federal de Educação Profissional, Científica e Tecnológica (Conif).
CDD 616.9363