According to World Bank data, almost a quarter of children worldwide have their skills undervalued, vulnerable to poor cognitive development, and their ability to learn compromised.
In this scenario of overcoming adverse socioeconomic conditions, João Paulo Malara, also known as Jotapê, together with volunteers, born and raised on the outskirts of the west side of the city of São Paulo, developed a model to reduce learning poverty.
From a boy’s dream, a digital education startup emerged that aims to “offer a horizon to children and young people from the Brazilian favelas and peripheries”, says Jotapê. New School App is the name of the platform that addresses socio-emotional, educational, and professional content in a language specific to the periphery.
The challenge of providing opportunities for adolescents in the “Quebrada” reflects on issues that are important and dear to people at the base of the pyramid, such as prejudice, hatred, and freedom, which are often far removed from school curricula. In addition, the app has content on digital programming, photography, and entrepreneurship. From a “Quebrada” to all, contents from the periphery are revealed that aim to prepare young people for the job market and life.
Startup New School is ESG’s investment transformation force going beyond the school. It shows how creativity, technology, and education can change the fate of favela youth.
If, on the one hand, the context of ESG investments requires caution, on the other, social inequality can open the way for possibilities and experimentation in the face of problems that have not yet been fully presented.
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