Diocesan College (Teresina)

Diocesan College in Teresina, Brazil, was founded in 1906. It is also known as the College of St. Francis de Sales. It has morning, afternoon, and evening shifts and offers education at the day care, primary, secondary, and adult levels. It follows the Ignatian pedagogy of the Jesuits who run it. Its Saraiva Square campus opened in 1925 and that on Benjamin Constant Street for 2 to 6 year olds opened in 2003.

History

In 1906 the first bishop of Piauí, Antonio Joaquim D'Almeida, founded the college along with the diocesan seminary. In 1914 the second bishop of Piaui closed the school for lack of funds, and took up residence in the building which has since had his court of arms on its facade. The third bishop of Piaui, Dom Severino Vieira de Melo, reopened the College in 1925 under the name of St. Francis de Sales, running a boarding school. The College held a military style uniform with two parallel stripes on the pants legs for full-time boarders and a wide stripe for semi-boarders. Later this was changed to khaki pants and a white short-sleeved shirt.

In 1945 the scientific and classic courses along with the technical trade school were initiated, including a course in accounting. At this time also a group of students founded New People magazine. In the late fifties the boarding house was closed.

From October 1959 until early 1960 the Diocesan College had its first lay director Bernardo Lopes de Sousa, who administered the College during the transition period until the arrival of the Jesuit Fathers in 1960. Since then it has networked with Jesuit schools.^[1]

The children's division of the College was opened in 2003. Today it serves more than 600 students between two and six years old. And the pedagogical model for the Children's Diocesan College is rooted in Ignatian pedagogy that considers the child's level of development and uniqueness and emphasizes playfulness as a learning strategy.^[2]

In 2015 Diocesan placed 12th in Piaui state in the national secondary school examination (ENEM).^[3]

Facilities and programs

Facilities include 38 classrooms, 10 group study rooms, 58 individual study booths, laboratories for physics, biology, chemistry and robotics, besides 3 computer labs, a multimedia room, and an auditorium seating 300. The central library has a collection of approximately 44,000 works and subscribes to 30 periodicals and newspaper, catalogued on computers and on the internet. Those between kindergarten to fifth grace use the children's library, with its 9,000 works and 11 journals.^[4]

Zero Waste Project aims at involving all actors on the campus cooperating to send limit entirely the amount of waste sent to the landfill, thus promoting environmental awareness, sustainability, waste reduction, and conservation. This is achieved through training and installation of compost and recyclable material facilities.^[5]

Magis House Teresina located at the College hosts youth from throughout Brazil for the Spiritual Exercises, training, and prayer evenings, as well as volunteer opportunities and celebration of faith.^[6]

References

Coordinates: 5°5′40.79″S 42°48′44.65″W / 5.0946639°S 42.8124028°W / -5.0946639; -42.8124028