SAO PAULO, Brazil, Dec. 18, 2002 — Orlando Ayala, Microsoft group vice president of worldwide sales, marketing and services joined this week with the Ayrton Senna Institute and local technology partners to announce the expansion of
“Sua Escola a 2000 por Hora”
(
“Your School at 2000 Kilometers per Hour”
) — a program designed to help local schools use information technology effectively and creatively in the classroom.
The program, currently in its third year and available in 10 of Brazil’s 26 states, will now be available across the entire country via television as Canal Futura, an educational TV channel with approximately 14 million viewers, joins the effort. The broadcast company will produce 13 separate 30-minute episodes that highlight different ways technology can be used in education.
Canal Futura also employs an outreach team that works directly with schools to provide training and teach communities how to effectively use the programs.
The Ayrton Senna Institute, a Sao Paulo-based non profit group that works to improve children’s education and health, and Microsoft began the program in 1999, with additional regional support from TCO Cellular. Together the partners have pledged to invest approximately R$3.5 million (US$1 million) in the program. To date, Microsoft has donated R$5 million (US$1.4 million) to the program.
“Microsoft sees the field of education as an investment in the country’s future,” says Microsoft’s Ayala. “The innovative use of technology to promote education is fundamental in the enhancement of the knowledge of future generations. And the program Sua Escola a 2000 por Hora has all the ingredients required for attaining these objectives.”
The television productions will begin airing on Canal Futura in February. They will combine elements of a news program, documentary and fiction piece to show the development of
“Sua Escola a 2000 por Hora,”
the difficulties and the solutions encountered.
