Brazilian deaf people experience important achievements in the national legislation that ensures
a bilingual education in Brazilian sign language as a first language and in Portuguese as a
second language. The objective of this work is to propose reflections for the implementation of
a bilingual education for the deaf in the municipal education governmental of Araguaína, state
of Tocantins. More specifically, the research aims to map the current educational language
policies in relation to the education of the deaf, in the municipal network, and propose ways for
the implementation of a bilingual education. For this, we analyzed the documents that govern
the education of the deaf, among them, the current curricular structure in the network, the
curricular reference of Elementary School, the pedagogical curricular reference of Early
Childhood Education and the list of enrolled deaf students. We also carry out visits to schools
where deaf students are enrolled. The reflections on the implementation of a bilingual education
for the deaf were based on national legislation, more specifically, on the Law of Guidelines and
Bases of National Education, on the State Education Plan of Tocantins and on the Municipal
Education Plan of Araguaína, as well as on the reflections de Lacerda (2009) and Lacerda and
Lodi (2009). We saw that deaf students are subject to the same curriculum as hearing students,
that is, there is still no offer of bilingual education. The twelve deaf students are distributed in
nine municipal schools; they are isolated, considering that there is no promotion of contact
between them, and without a bilingual environment that suggests a robust circulation of sign
language. There is a strong conception on the part of family members about deafness as a loss,
an organic deficit and in need of repair. The deaf are not offered contact with sign language on
the recommendation of doctors, whose discourse also prevails in educational institutions. In
this sense, we suggest that Centro de Educação Infantil Glória Morais and Escola Municipal
Domingos Sousa Lemos be centers of Bilingual Education for the Deaf and that bilingual
classes for the deaf be instituted, based on the guidelines that we also suggest. The listed
guidelines may favor contact between deaf people and the establishment of a specific program
in sign language, with a deaf teacher, preferably, conducting the room. It is necessary to
elaborate a curricular matrix considering Libras as a language of instruction, interaction and
communication in the school environment and the curricular components of Libras as a first
language and Portuguese as a second language.
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