The Ministry of Education (MEC) has just launched the painel Alunos Conectados. The newly created virtual environment makes data about the project available, in order to offer transparency to the initiative and allow monitoring of actions and decision-making, in addition to centralizing project information in a single place, facilitating the adhesion of Federal Institutions of Higher Education (Ifes) and Federal Institutes (IFs).

The Alunos Conectados project provides free internet, through mobile data packages (4G), to students in a situation of socioeconomic vulnerability enrolled in higher education institutions in the federal network, who do not have enough income to hire the broadband service in their households, so that they have access to educational content and learning activities, offered remotely by educational institutions. So far, 159,816 chips have been delivered to 99 institutions of Higher Education and Professional, Scientific and Technological Education.

The action is operated by the National Education and Research Network (RNP) and was launched as an emergency by the Ministry of Education as one of the actions to support the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.