PTInternational insights with a local flavor. What Brazil can learn (and teach) about integrating digital tools into education.
Photo: Free collection | Pexels–Pixabay
Wishing everyone a great week ahead!
By José Brito, journalist and founder of Pupa Educação Digital
“The challenge of having a school that speaks to its time is huge, especially because we come from a generation of offline teachers. Now we’re in a phase where we have highly detailed data by skill, by student, all within digital environments. Knowing how to engage with this digital context — with all its risks, threats and opportunities — is more than a student’s right. It’s the school’s duty.”
AI-generated image with Gemini
What do a private school in Rio de Janeiro, a public school in Itatiba (in the countryside of São Paulo), and a vocational school near Maringá, Paraná, all have in common? I’ll give you a hint: try answering without mentioning the two letters most repeated by generations raised on daily tech — two letters that signal urgent solutions for digital learning. Starts with A, ends with I…
No surprise here: artificial intelligence is rapidly reshaping school curricula. From north to south, innovation is surging in major research hubs with nearly unlimited resources — take China and the U.S., for instance, in their global tech race. Meanwhile, countries like Estonia are taking a logic-based approach, promoting the use of smart devices like smartphones not just for entertainment, but as part of structured AI usage guides, both in and beyond the classroom.
Brazil is part of this movement too. A standout example is the public school network in Piauí, which recently won the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize in partnership with the government of Bahrain. Since 2024, the state has made Artificial Intelligence a mandatory subject for 120,000 ninth-grade and high school students.
Among the many experiences happening right now, I’ve been closely following three of them. In Itatiba (SP), invited by Brasscom, we held a seminar on conscious AI use for high school students. Over 300 participants took part in a day of activities, including the creation of virtual agents and assistants to solve real issues in their school. In parallel, other groups produced videos using ChatGPT’s VEO-3 and SORA tools to discuss Brazilian history and prep for college entrance exams.
In Paraná, during media literacy workshops focused on fighting climate disinformation — a project led by Alexandre Sayad in partnership with Itaipu Parquetec — I heard a wide range of stories, from teens dreaming of their first rural job to others grappling with ultra-realistic videos that spread fake news and scams via social media and WhatsApp groups.
The truth is, despite a new AI tool being released each week by big tech companies, or tested in various industries, we’re still far from having a timeline robust enough to produce a reliable playbook for schools. And honestly — maybe that’s a good thing.
That’s the spirit in which I spoke with Vinícius Canedo, principal of Colégio MOPI, with campuses in Itanhangá and Tijuca, in Rio de Janeiro. Vinícius has long been tuned into the intersection of education, technology and innovation, and he invited the Pupa Educação Digital team to support a curriculum review to expand digital education and implement AI labs for middle and high school students.
We’re in the thick of the process, and what’s clear so far is that it’s much bigger than just launching a tool or two. The school was one of the first in Brazil to adopt Khanmigo, the AI-powered learning coach developed by Khan Academy, as a support for both students and teachers. That move, back in 2025, was a bold and strategic step.
Source: O Globo e Digital Version avaiable
#2 Over 40 experts gather at Insper to exchange practices and lessons on AI in education
Source: Summit Explore
#3 Building a healthy information ecosystem requires policy, institutions and journalism, warns Nobel Prize-winning economist
Source: Fundación Gabo
#4 MediaWise: A global platform for digital and media literacy that empowers young fact-checkers
Source: Poynter Institute
#5 AI hallucinations and copy-paste shortcuts spark crisis at major consulting firm in Australia
Source: Tecmundo
📚 READING TIP »
I had the pleasure of working with Rafael Parente back when he hosted an interview program on Canal Futura. Those were inspiring days, filled with passionate people experimenting with audiovisual formats to share knowledge, provoke thought and expand cultural awareness — always grounded in the urgent social issues of our time.
Years later, Rafa and I reconnected — now with him as director of Instituto Salto — in research groups focused on the use of digital technologies and AI models in education. We exchange messages almost daily with colleagues immersed in computational science, often crossing paths at major events in tech, innovation, education and digital culture.
Since then, we’ve lived many new adventures — and many more are on the way. So this week’s reading tip is actually more of an invitation: check out the launch of “The Augmented Teacher: Reimagining the Role of Educators in the Age of AI”, a publication led by the UNESCO Chair in partnership with the Catholic University of Brasília, co-authored by Rafael Parente, Renato Brito and Maria Cristina Mesquita.
The book places strong emphasis on social listening across diverse Brazilian territories and on valuing diversity in local school contexts. I haven’t read it yet, but my copy is already on the way. 😉
» The Augmented Teacher: Reimagining the Role of Educators in the Age of AI
Authors: Renato Brito, Rafael Parente e Maria Cristina Mesquita
Published by: Cátedra UNESCO e Universidade Católica de Brasília
2025
See you next time!