Partnership with Musk would only reach 27% of schools without internet in Brazil

The Centro de Ensino Fundamental 01 (CEF 01) in Vila Planalto is exactly halfway between the two most emblematic palaces in Brasília: the one in Planalto, where Jair Bolsonaro (PL) dispatches, and the one in Alvorada, where the president lives.

Almost 600 elementary school students are enrolled there, the vast majority from needy families. There is no wi-fi network and not even computers in the room that should be computers. There is also a lack of material in the library, which ended up being transformed into a space for physical activities.

“For employees and teachers to have internet, we make a crowdfunding ourselves and pay R$ 129 per month”, says the director of CEF 01, Nilce Coimbra. “To do research, students go to a square next door looking for a connection.”

The square is not far from a restaurant where Bolsonaro usually has lunch, according to Nilce.

The director heard about the world’s richest businessman coming to Brazil a few days ago to announce a project to provide satellite internet to 19,000 rural schools in the country. Billionaire Elon Musk was received with pomp by Bolsonaro, ministers and military authorities on the 20th.

The project by the owner of SpaceX (a space rocket launch company) and Starlink (the arm of the group responsible for satellite connections) was announced as something right by the government and as a promising solution for connecting Brazilian schools.

But even if the initiative goes ahead, the numbers show that the effort to connect schools would need to be greater than presented so far.

The reality of CEF 01 do Planalto, in the heart of the country’s capital, is the same as that of at least 63,300 municipal and state public schools that do not offer internet to elementary school students. Only 36% of schools have internet for these students, according to data from the 2021 School Census, carried out annually by Inep, of the Ministry of Education. In the North, this rate is 17%.

If public high schools without internet for students are added together, the total number of units is at least 69,700, according to data from the School Census. Thus, the Musk project taken over by the Bolsonaro government would reach only 27.2% of the necessary.

In addition, less than half of public schools that offer elementary education have desktop computers for students. With a tablet, it’s less than 8%.

Another even more basic problem is the lack of electricity. Brazil has 3,400 schools without electricity supply and another 2,000 work with a generator. There is no water in 3,600 basic education teaching units, according to data from the School Census.

Since November 2021, the Bolsonaro government has already treated Musk’s offensive in the country as a partnership and implied that the agreement was ready, but without providing details. It was the same speech adopted during the businessman’s visit to the country on the 20th, organized by the Minister of Communications Fábio Faria (PP).

In an interview with Sheet on the 28th, Faria said that Musk’s company will have to participate in a bidding process to offer the school connection service to the internet.

The position was reinforced in a note from the ministry to the report: “To connect schools without internet, Starlink -already authorized by Anatel to operate in Brazil- must participate in a bidding process, as well as any other company interested in exploring the sector.”

There are no service fees, specifications of places to be served or effective operation of Starlink in the country, which opened a legal representation office in Brazil.

“The costs, scope, technology, as well as other details, will be defined in the public notice to be launched at the time, respecting the constitutional principles of isonomy, legality, impersonality and transparency”, said the Ministry of Communications.

The idea of ​​the folder is to include the service provided by Musk’s company in the federal government’s Wi-Fi Brasil program, which has been in operation since 2018. The program offers free satellite and terrestrial broadband internet connections.

Since 2019, according to figures released by the program, 10,000 internet points have been installed in schools, or 3,000 per year, on average.

The pace, therefore, does not meet the necessary demand. And it is expensive, according to the value of the contract between the Ministry of Communications and Telebras for the installation of Wi-Fi Brasil points.

A contract signed on June 25, 2021 provides for the installation of 2,000 points of the program, by 2023, at a cost of BRL 43.3 million (ie BRL 21,600 each).

“Students complain a lot. Teachers even ask to bring their cell phones for research, but not everyone has [pacote de] data”, says the director of CEF 01. “During the pandemic, when the classroom was suspended, 80% of the students did the printed work, because they did not have internet data at home.”

The Department of Education of the Federal District, responsible for the school, did not respond to questions in the report.

The Ministry of Education also did not respond to questions about indicators in Brazilian schools and about possible programs for a change in reality.

The Ministry of Communications said it had partnered with the Ministry of Mines and Energy to install solar panels in schools without electricity. The folder also said that there is “possibility of forming a partnership” with Musk to supply solar energy “aligned with the provision of high-speed internet”.

There are also programs aimed at supplying computers, according to the ministry. “More than 26 thousand computers have already been donated to 604 municipalities in the four corners of the country”, he says.

The folder also said that Bolsonaro sanctioned a law in 2022 that provides free mobile broadband internet to students from the public basic education network who are part of the Single Registry of social programs.