Shortly before the end of the 2022 school year, the first schools enrolled in the Proof of Concept, the initial stage of Internet Brasil, received the program's neutral chips, with 20Gb of mobile data per month. A little over three months after the launch of this initiative to promote digital inclusion in basic education, the first effects are already beginning to be felt.

Romildo Amarante, 17 years old, was the first student from Juazeiro (BA) to receive a chip at the delivery ceremony at Dom Avelar school in December last year. At the time, he was a student of the Youth and Adult Education (EJA) and was finishing Elementary School at night. Now attending high school at a state school in the city, Romildo says he has been using his chip a lot for research work, more intense in the new school stage. “I use it to watch videos, do research, chat via message, for everything”, he celebrates.

Even before the beginning of the school year, the director of the old school, Yandria Pereira, had already noticed an improvement in communication with families and students, since December. “I notice that the number of students and mothers asking to be included in message groups has increased. And I attribute this to receiving the chip from the Internet Brasil program. This has facilitated communication with the school community”, she explains. Yandria also says that, in preparatory meetings with teachers, the school's pedagogical team reinforced the importance of making the most of this new resource available to students. “We are making teachers aware of the importance of strengthening and enhancing this access to technology, since a good number of our students received the chip”.

On the other side of the São Francisco River, in the city of Petrolina (PE), Ytala Dayane da Silva says that communication with her daughter Lorena Karla, 10 years old, has improved a lot thanks to the Internet Brasil chip. “Now she's walking to school, just with her friends. So, as soon as she arrives at the school door, she tells me that she has arrived, and I am less worried”, says the manicurist.

And there are many uses that the 6th grade student is making of the cell phone chip. Lorena Karla has been reading more books. And now she better follows conversations at home. “She is very curious. So, if she hears us talking about a subject she doesn't understand, she already picks up her cell phone and searches to find out what it is about ”, says the proud mother.

Instituted by Law 14,351/22, the Internet Brasil program is an initiative of the Ministry of Communications (MCom), in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MEC), and is executed by RNP.

Currently, RNP is preparing to expand the Proof of Concept and make more chips available to students in the Northeast and also in Minas Gerais. At this stage, up to 10,000 students from the public school system will benefit.