Salvador will, in the future, be a bilingual city. At least that’s what City Hall and the UK Embassy believe. This Thursday (10), the British government will launch two partnerships with municipal administrations, which will focus on implementing measures to democratize education and English learning in the capital, with activities in municipal schools. About 100,000 students will benefit and more than 9 thousand teachers.
Project, called Skills for Prosperity (Skills for Prosperity, in free translation), led by the Embassy of the United Kingdom. It is a collaboration agreement between the city’s Department of Education and the British Council, which promotes access to opportunities for young people and disadvantaged groups in education and skills development for the world of work.
United Kingdom Acting Ambassador Melanie Hopkins is in El Salvador for the project’s launch and explains why she chose to work in the capital. “There is a long history between Bahia and the United Kingdom: Bahia played a historic role in the formation of Brazil and the United Kingdom led the Brazilian Navy’s army in the bay at Dois de Julho, at the time of independence. All Saints”.
The ambassador pointed out that English is a very important socioeconomic marker in Brazil, where only the rich have access to quality education, hence the importance of the project. “We can’t talk about inclusion without coming to Bahia, we can’t talk about entrepreneurship without coming here. “The quality of English teaching here in Brazil is a huge socioeconomic indicator, so Salvador and Bahia are fundamental to England,” Hopkins concluded.
The agreement, led by the British Council, marks the start of a joint project with Salvador City Hall to develop the skills of English language teachers and develop fluency and specific skills for teaching the language. Educators from other areas can also benefit from this initiative as it includes continuing education for science teachers and their technologies.
Although the agreement for this is to be signed on Thursday, the project has already started. This is explained by Municipal Education Secretary Marcelo Oliveira. “Teachers undergo training to improve their skills and facilitate the teaching of the English language. On Tuesday (8), the program was delivered to around 120 English teachers from the Municipal Council network and the partnership continued today. [quarta] “We had another 120 science and math educators,” the manager pointed out. The signing of the agreement will take place tomorrow at 11 am in the Teatro Gregorio de Mateos.
In addition, the secretary announced that STEAM clubs (named after the English initials of the words science, technology, engineering, art and mathematics) will also be created in schools in El Salvador. Students, under the guidance of a teacher, create projects in different academic areas where they have the opportunity to go beyond the walls of the academic institution and exchange experiences with other steam clubs in Brazil and around the world.
João Victor Queiroz, head of the International Cooperation Office in the capital, highlighted the goal of making Salvador a bilingual city. “The partnership aims to invest more in our education. We always had the dream of making Salvador a bilingual city and we were looking for partners to support us. That’s when we approached the British Embassy and luckily, they also prioritized Bahia. It was the perfect match,” he said.
Programs in collaboration with the Embassy
A Memorandum of Understanding was signed with the City of Salvador to develop continuous joint ventures and develop bilateral opportunities, particularly in the fields of education, green finance, investments, infrastructure and energy. Also, there is a cooperation agreement between the Education Department and the Education Department British Council, Represented in El Salvador by America’s Regional Director Helen Sylvester and Interim National Director Diana Taste. British Council Brazil🇧🇷
In the field of digital and technology, a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation of the Government of Bahia and the Fundaçção de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado da Bahia, where the embassy already works. year in two projects: one on Climate Resilience and Connectivity, in collaboration with the British Agency Attached places catapult; and the Training Program for Internationalization, which trained more than 100 start-ups from Bahia in its first class. UK-Brazil Technology Centre.
In 2022, the British Digital Access Program developed a cyber security education program through the Bahian organization Safernet, in collaboration with the Bahia Department of Education. Finally, this Wednesday, in addition to the educational program in municipal schools, the embassy closed a partnership in the field of female entrepreneurship. program Women of the futureProvided by the British Government UK-Brazil Technology Centre And it has already supported more than 250 female entrepreneurs in Brazil.
Women of the future
project Women of the future (Future Women, in free translation) focuses on entrepreneurship for women entrepreneurs. “The UK greatly values female leadership. These women are creating start-ups with positive impact and solutions to key development challenges in Brazil and the world,” Ambassador Melanie Hopkins pointed out at the partnership’s closing ceremony at the Canto Hotel in Rio. Vermelo, this Wednesday (9).
Andrea Motta, director of the UK-Brazil Technology Center, pointed out that of the 250 women who graduated from Future Women, 79 were from the Northeast and 32 from Bahia. According to her, the program was created to support women entrepreneurs who are at the beginning of their career development. “We are providing training and entrepreneurial knowledge to a network of women for three months, online and free of charge, with guidance and connections. A new class should open in January or February,” she concluded.
*With guidance from Vice President of Reporting Monique Lobo
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