The Ministry of Communications (MCom) is launching a pilot project that intends to connect public elementary and high schools that do not have access to the internet or that do not have  satisfactory connectivity for the exercise of educational activities by students. The data collected in the 2021 School Census, a statistical diagnosis carried out annually by the National Institute of Educational Studies and Research Anísio Teixeira (Inep), shed light on the need for connectivity of these institutions across the country and, based on this, initially, the MCom project identified 8 thousand schools able to be part of the initiative. 

The National Education and Research Network (RNP) is a partner of MCom in this project, will be responsible for coordinating the technical execution of the initiative, and is currently selecting and contracting telecommunications service providers, to start the installation, activation, operation and maintenance of these connections, for a period of 12 months initially. Interested suppliers can access the Term of Reference of the initiative here and register by 3/18.

At the end of this work, it is estimated that around 800,000 students will benefit. Among these 8,000 institutions distributed among 1,760 municipalities across the country, 5,000 are located in rural areas, while another 3,000 are urban. This initiative contributes to democratizing access to education, boosting digital inclusion and reducing inequalities in access to Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in urban and rural areas throughout Brazil.