What we do?
EduMais’s objective is to help marginalized children and adolescents to develop their social, emotional and academic skills. We provide a unique program to the poorest families who are seeking quality schooling for their children in the violent Pavão-Pavãozinho and Cantagalo favelas (slums). We provide English, Entrepreneurship, Enter the Labour Market, Game and Web Design. In doing so, we are working to develop the lacking social and emotional skills important for their future success. Positive Discipline is the educational model used in the programs, which are adapted to the students' learning capabilities. Our teaching method also takes into account the trauma and violence that have affected our students' ability to learn. Our free educational programs, based on the UNESCO principles of ‘Right to Education’ and 'Education for All', empower underprivileged youth with the skills to build a brighter future away from poverty, violence and drugs. We also offers internships and volunteering positions for students to build their skill sets and increase their opportunities in the labor market.
Why we do it?
EduMais believes that every child should have access to quality and equitable education, regardless of where they were born.
Four years ago, a multidisciplinary team of professionals involved with EduMais saw that they developed a winning formula to educate 95 marginalized youth (ages 5-18) in the favelas of Rio de Janeiro through social and emotional learning. At that time, EduMais's founder thought what if we could scale our impact by offering a variety of academic subjects while addressing the students' social and emotional development? In a positive setting where teachers stressed the importance of persistence, creativity, self-belief and courage? Today, EduMais provides free complementary education programs that extend the reach of public schooling to help over 400 disadvantaged local youth to develop their English language, learning and academic abilities.
Our aim is to provide comprehensive educational programs that coincide with the students realities in the favelas. Additionally, we are currently developing a mentorship program to equip our senior students with essential skills required for the new economy—one that is currently being shaped by the pandemic.