In August 2023, 8,326 delivery men and women made the Encceja test (National Examination for Certification of Skills for Young People and Adults), which gives the right to a secondary school completion certificate.
It was a strong presence: with five times more participants than in 2022, the delivery men and women on the iFood platform totaled 2.3% of the people who took the exam throughout Brazil.
Among these people were Ariane Aparecida da Rosa and Januário Aparecido Galvão. While still very young, they stopped studying, but took advantage of the opportunity to complete their studies with the My High School Diploma.
This is an iFood program that supports education journey for delivery men and women with scholarships so they can take the preparatory course for Encceja.
And now, what's the next step? Ariane and Januário tell you everything below!
“I didn’t have faith in myself. After this project, everything changed.”
Ariane Aparecida da Rosa was born in the interior of Minas Gerais and stopped studying at the age of 14. “Where I lived, it was just farm work, so I never worried about studying, because I didn’t think I needed it,” he says.
At age 20, she moved to São Paulo, and recently registered on the iFood app to make deliveries. That's when she found out about My High School Diploma.
“This opportunity to study came up. Then I thought like this: I think I’ll study”
In 2023, she started taking classes at Termine Seu Estudos, an iFood partner.
At first, Ariane thought it would be difficult to learn. But in class, she felt calmer because she saw that Termine Seu Estudos “understands people’s doubts”. Her seven-year-old daughter watched many lives with her and even memorized the advice of a teacher, who repeated to her mother in challenging moments: “focus on the easy ones”.
“It was a turning point for me. I took the test and am currently studying for the São Paulo Civil Police exam, which will be at a mid-level level”, he reveals.
“At the end of the journey, I was impressed with the evolution I had made, with my ability to learn. I didn't have faith in myself and now, after this project, everything has changed. I think I can do all that and more.”
“We deprive ourselves of many things because we don’t have an education, we are afraid of moving forward”
Januário Aparecido Galvão started working at a very young age. First, to help around the house, especially after her mother had cancer. Then, to make her dreams come true, such as buying her apartment and raising her two daughters (now 6 and 13 years old).
Today he is a bar chef on one shift and a delivery man at iFood on another. “I was always trying to study, but I couldn't finish,” says Januário, who lives in São Paulo.
In February this year, Januário started receiving messages from iFood about My High School Diploma. At first, he didn't care. But then he was tempted to see what it was.
“I said: 'You know what? Let's see what's up with that', he says.
From then on, he immersed himself in studying in his free time — in the morning, before leaving for work, and at night, when he saw an opening. “I studied hard to get here. I did very well in all the aspects that Finish Your Studies gave us.”
After getting his high school diploma, he wants to study Business Administration to have his own business. “Sometimes we deprive ourselves of many things because we don’t have an education, we are afraid of moving forward. There's no point in having a business, forming a great team, if I don't know how to manage it. Only study can give me that.”
Even though he enjoyed his work, he felt that something was missing.
“My mother, up in heaven, will see what I will achieve. Knowledge is something that no one will take away from me. The pleasure of being able to read an entire sentence to my daughter without stuttering are things that only we ourselves will be able to feel”, he says.
