| Unibanco promotes, jointly with Fundação Roberto Marinho and
the Viva Rio NGO, the Maré do Saber and Rocinha do Saber projects. Both work to give people living in two of Rio's shantytowns an opportunity to finish
their formal education by teaching them classes equivalent to the last four
years of primary schooling and three years of high-school.
Maré do Saber was started earlier, in 2003 and is devoted to grades
5-8, taught in 10-month-long terms. Rocinha started in 2004 and concentrates
on high school dropouts, providing 13-month-long terms. At the end, students
are induced to register for their GED exams, helping them obtain their diplomas.
Both projects make use of Telecurso 2000, educational system developed in the
90's by Fundação Roberto Marinho and Federação das
Indústrias do Estado de São Paulo. Coordinators chosen from the
served communities conduct the program.
Twenty TV rooms, between Maré and Rocinha communities, reach 615 students
with four-hour-long night classes. About 90% of participants graduate, the best
result ever reached by the Telecurso system. |
