Marta Silva

A Brazilian educator who established the first nationwide network of girls' schools in Latin America, significantly improving female literacy rates.

Marta Silva (1908-1975) transformed education in Brazil through her visionary Educación para Todas movement. Starting in 1935, she converted abandoned churches and warehouses into schools across 12 states, creating 89 institutions by 1950. Her Mobile School Units reached isolated Amazon regions using riverboats, documented in the BBC documentary Women on the Waters (1958). Silva's curriculum emphasized vocational training alongside traditional subjects, teaching girls carpentry, midwifery, and agricultural techniques.

Her 1943 Manual for Rural Educators became a national standard, translated into Quechua and Guarani. Despite opposition from conservative groups, she secured government funding through her grassroots advocacy, including a famous 1947 march to Brasília. The Silva Educational Foundation now operates 300+ centers, continuing her mission. UNESCO honored her in 1968 with the Right to Education Award, citing her role in raising female literacy from 28% to 57% nationally by 1960.