Internet Brasil Program delivers 1,000 internet chips to children and young people in Campina Grande (PB)
To bring internet connection and digital inclusion to low-income students and their families, the Federal Government delivered, this Tuesday (4th), 1,000 chips with a data package to students in Campina Grande (PB). The event was attended by the Minister of Communications, Juscelino Filho, and the Secretary of Telecommunications, Maximiliano Martinhão. The forecast is to make up to 700,000 chips available to children and adolescents across the country and R$ 139.5 million have already been invested.
"I am very happy with this delivery today. This is just the first of thousands of chips that we are going to deliver through this program across the country. This is just one stage of our National Program, which aims to bring digital inclusion to Brazilians", explained the Minister Juscelino Filho.
The distribution of chips with 20 gigabytes (Gb) per month to access the Internet via mobile broadband is part of the Internet Brasil Program, an initiative of the Ministry of Communications (MCom), in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MEC), which aims to democratize Internet access. Students from the municipal schools Anis Timani, Gov. Antonio Mariz, Padre Antonino and Maria das Vitórias Pires Uchoa Queiroz benefited from the action. Another 15 schools in the municipalities of Caicó (RN), Campina Grande (PB), Caruaru (PE), Juazeiro (BA), Mossoró (RN) and Petrolina (PE) have already been awarded. Soon, Araguari, Conceição das Alagoas and Uberaba, in Minas Gerais, will also participate in the Program.
“Today, 20 million Brazilians, who are in distant communities, in the North of the country, and in the Amazon region, need attention so that we can take programs and projects from the Ministry of Communications. It is to make digital inclusion and this connectivity come to the lives of each one of them. This is our mission", concluded the minister.
The program's pilot project, carried out by the National Education and Research Network (RNP), is aimed at primary and secondary school students from municipal and state public schools already served by the Nordeste Conectado Project. To be entitled to the chip with a data package, the student's family must be registered in the Single Register for Social Programs of the Federal Government (CadÚnico).
The mayor of Campina Grande (PB), Bruno Cunha Lima, and senator Efraim Filho also participated in the event.
DIGITAL INCLUSION – The Internet Brazil Program is another MCom digital inclusion initiative, in partnership with the Ministry of Education (MEC), and the first that aims to provide individual access to the population. Currently, the Ministry already operates Wi-Fi Brasil, which, however, aims to promote fixed access collectively, such as in schools and squares.