Lemann Foundation defends NGO partnership with MEC – 09/27/2023 – Education

After the repercussion of an agreement signed between the Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) government and the NGO MegaEdu, linked to the group of businessman Jorge Paulo Lemann, the Lemann Foundation defended the cooperation agreement with the MEC (Ministry of Education).

In a statement, the foundation said that it “has always established (and will continue to establish) technical relationships based on transparency with the various governments” in the country.

On Monday (25), the newspaper O Estado de S.Paulo reported that MegaEdu will provide technical support for an internet connection policy in public schools.

Under the agreement signed, MegaEdu will be one of the entities that will support the MEC to give its opinion on how the R$6.6 billion in resources that the federal government will allocate to the connectivity project should be used. The cooperation extract was published on August 14 in the Official Gazette of the Union.

“We understand that only a joint effort between public authorities, third sector organizations, academia and society in general will be able to promote positive transformations with great impact for Brazil and its people”, stated the foundation, in the note.

“We reiterate that no relationship with public authorities involves any type of transfer of financial resources or seeks economic interests,” he added.

“The Lemann Foundation has been looking closely at the relationship between technology and education for learning purposes since 2015, a topic that became even more relevant with the pandemic. At that time, we supported 12 million students to study remotely, through a coalition that brought together dozens of organizations that also work with education”, he said.

MegaEdu, in turn, states that it was created with the objective of “bringing high-speed internet to all public schools in Brazil” and, with that, carried out a study on the connectivity of schools in the country, which resulted in a partnership with the MEC.

“MegaEdu does not indicate technologies or operators that should be adopted by any governments, does not participate in the decision of partnerships and public purchases nor does it receive any financial compensation from any telecommunications company”, he said, also in a note.