An education that prepares children and young people for the world we live in today: it is based on this purpose that iFood is starting a project that is bringing internet access to ten public schools located in places where there is no connection.
That's where the partnership with Starlink, a satellite constellation development project by SpaceX, a company founded by Elon Musk. The company offers a satellite transmission service and, in the pilot phase of the partnership with iFood, it provided internet access to 200 students from ten public schools in the cities of Cunha (SP) and Lages (SC), located in rural areas where the signal only arrives through this technology.
How did the project become a reality?
To select which schools would benefit from the first action of the project, the partner MegaEdu, a non-profit organization whose mission is to connect 100% to Brazilian public schools, led a study to select the units that would receive the service.
Another partnership of the initiative is Synchronize Education, which is responsible for training teachers so that the internet available in schools has the best pedagogical use through digital literacy.
By combining these initiatives with Starlink's satellite internet service, it was possible to advance the iFood commitment to impact five million people by encouraging education by 2025: more than R$ 500 thousand were invested by the company in the project, which dialogues with the purpose of using technology as a transformative agent in society.
The impact is already real
This action is already transforming the reality of the school where educator Marisa Faustino works: “I have used technological resources for students to research, learn about educational platforms and games and communicate through chat and video calls with students from other rural schools” , explains.
Marisa also sees these first days of internet access at school with the expectation of having an even greater impact on students' education: “Having this contact with the virtual world, the digital world, will open their minds. The more knowledge I have, the more I can dream”, celebrates the educator.
Josimar Ramos, father of a student, says that he studied at the same school as his daughter, but that the reality today is very different. “Ten years ago there was no electricity at home or at school. So, there was no refrigerator, no television. Today there’s even the internet”, he comments.
The municipal secretary of Education of Cunha, Tânia Gomes, agrees. “I lived in a rural area myself and I can say that the arrival of the internet changes society. I also taught in schools further away from the urban center and needed to download videos at home to take with a pen drive. The school is the reference point for these students, so having the internet is a blessing”, he says.
It does not stop there
In addition to this initiative, the iFood still encourages actions who seek to awaken interest in technology in education basic to training in the area, through the platform Tech Power, which offers free courses, scholarships for technology training and a track focused on employability in the area.
