Brazilian community finds success in long distance learning program
December 9, 2011
Students who live in more remote regions of Brazil are finding new ways to learn and pursue their education. The Christian Science Monitor reports that government officials in the Amazonas state of the country recently implemented a long-distance satellite learning program to make it easier for kids to attend school. Through satellite video conferencing, students can virtually attend class, saving them weeks-long trips down rivers to get to cities from their rural communities.
"Our aim is to increase coverage areas normal schools can't reach," program director Augusto de Melo Neto told the news source. "What we do is offer the structure for people to study every day."
The program began in 2007, and the news publication reports that about 97 percent of high school students in this program completed their second year of schooling, as compared to only 86 percent in the rest of the country. They had a higher graduation rate as well. People can make calls to Brazil to talk to their loved ones about the importance of education, regardless of how it is received.
The one major drawback to the long-distance learning program is that the system tends to cut out fairly regularly due to inclement weather. The disruptions can make it difficult for students to stay focused on their lessons.