feature story Education social project transforms the lives of young people in São João da Barra

Maria Melissa is today a 4th grade elementary school teacher at a public school in São João da Barra and is studying Law at a private college. Herick finished high school and got a 100% scholarship at a private college to study Digital Games. Arthur is studying Agronomy at the North Fluminense State University (UENF) while Poliana is doing Social Work at the Federal Fluminense University (UFF).

 

What do these young people have in common? All of them are former students at public schools in the São João da Barra municipality and were part of the project “Transforming the Present, Projecting the Future (TPPF), aimed at improving the quality of basic education and reducing school dropout rates in the city through personal and social development of young people with a focus on building a life project.

 

Chevron Brasil sponsors the social project – which is in its fifth edition in the city – in partnership with Instituto Aliança and the local Department of Education. Since 2018, when it began, over 900 students have benefited by the program, which was offered in the counter shift only to 9th grade elementary school students at all public schools in São João da Barra until 2022.

 

“The project taught me to never give up on reaching my goal and never stop acquiring new knowledge”, said Herick Alexandre Gonçalves, who is also studying Electromechanics and a Degree in Theater, both at the Fluminense Federal Institute (IFF).

 

In 2023, TPPF became part of the curriculum of São João da Barra’s education as a course called Life Project, and to also include the 6th grade students from elementary school. The idea is that the program will be extended to following grades by including the 7th grade classes and the flow correction project in 2024 and the 8th grade classes in 2025. The proposal also includes the qualification of teachers and professionals at the public school system to apply the success TPPF methodology.

 

The new course will focus on expanding socio-emotional education by encouraging students to develop skills such as self-knowledge, self-discipline, teamwork, self-confidence, resilience, curiosity, initiative, pleasure in seeking new knowledge, among others.

 

These skills are essential to motivate young people to not drop out of school and invest in their own education to achieve their ideals. In addition, the project provided gamified workshops in Portuguese and Math classes to support students to reduce learning gaps in these courses. As a result, in 2022, 9th grade students, members of the TPPF, had Portuguese grades 66.5% higher than those who did not participate in the project, while the students in flow correction classes (“Acelera” program that allows the student to attend the 8th and 9th grades together) recorded an impressive 83%. In mathematics, grades were, respectively, 67.4% and 79.6% higher compared to the same group.

 

“We are very proud to support social projects like TPPF contributing to improving the education quality of the young people in the communities where we operate. The results demonstrate that we are on the right way when we observe the continuous search for knowledge by the students for developing their professional careers to be better prepared for the workplace”, said Patricia Pradal, Business Development & Corporate Affairs Manager.