Samsung and UNICEF – United Nations Children's Fund joined forces in an unprecedented partnership with the objective of contributing to improving the quality of education in Brazilian public schools. The initiative focuses on reducing the number of children and adolescents who are behind in school, guaranteeing the right to learn.
The first step in this direction is the “UNICEF Samsung Marathon”. This is a programming and technology marathon to create educational applications, developed in partnership with Softex – Association for the Promotion of Excellence in Brazilian Software, through the Brasil Mais TI program. The launch of the initiative takes place on 04/25 and will unfold throughout the year. The proposal of the "UNICEF Samsung Marathon" is to unite the efforts of public school students and technology professionals so that they can develop applications for the areas of Languages (Portuguese Language, Art, Physical Education and English), Mathematics, Natural Sciences and Science Humanities (History and Geography). At the end of the project, the applications presented can be used in public schools and benefit students from the 6th to the 9th grade of Elementary School.
The marathon seeks to bring together programmers, designers, developers, students, teachers and inventors to develop prototype applications that are useful in the classroom and promote innovation and learning. Samsung will act as a mentor for the project, providing support and knowledge for the selected ideas to be developed. UNICEF and its partners (Ministry of Education and CIEB) will be responsible for the pedagogical support to the teams.
"Stimulating innovative projects using technologies for education has been one of the pillars of Samsung's Social Responsibility and this partnership with UNICEF inspires us to develop more solutions and products that can be used as tools for social transformation", says Isabel Costa, Manager of Corporate Citizenship at Samsung Brazil.
“Today, in Brazil, about 3 out of 10 students in the Final Years of Elementary School and High School have two or more years of school delay. Reversing this situation necessarily involves the involvement of children and adolescents in the search for solutions to the challenges in the classroom. By launching this marathon, which brings together students and technology experts to create applications that contribute to school success, UNICEF and Samsung are confirming their commitment to the right to learn”, says Ítalo Dutra, Head of Education at UNICEF in Brazil.
For Ana Beatriz Pires, project manager at Softex, another important aspect of the event is to stimulate students' interest in programming. “One of Brasil Mais TI's proposals is to awaken the vocation and encourage the entry of new professionals in a sector that is undergoing rapid growth and is considered strategic for the country”.
Schedule
Those interested in registering for the “UNICEF Samsung Marathon” can apply from April 25th to May 25th. Teams made up of five members can register through the site maratona.brasilmaisti.com.br, where the regulation is also available. Once the membership period is over, the Marathon will be divided into three phases.
In the first phase, which takes place from May 26 to June 11, the submitted proposals will be evaluated by the judging committee. The result of this stage and the 32 teams selected to follow in the Marathon will be announced on June 12th.
In the second phase, from June 12 to July 31, those selected will develop the proposed applications, with question-taking sessions and technical and pedagogical online mentoring throughout the month of July. Still at this stage, the app prototypes are tested in schools from the 1st to the 30th of August.
Finally, the third stage includes a certification ceremony and delivery of the benefit grant to each participant in the week of September 24th to 28th, at a location to be defined.
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