Focus on Portugal immigration and local education:
On the morning of the 10th (local time), a signing ceremony for the "Cooperative Education Project" was held at the Rio de Janeiro State Governor's Palace. During the event, the Confucius Institute in Rio officially signed the agreement for the Rio "Cooperative Education Project," with plans to launch a one-semester Portuguese-Chinese bilingual pilot class at a tourism school in Rio this August, and to establish a full Portuguese-Chinese bilingual school next year.
The "Cooperative Education Project" is an educational initiative jointly organized by the Rio state government, the private sector, and civil society organizations. Established in 2008, it covers fields such as technology, foreign languages (English, French, Spanish, Turkish, and Mandarin), services, biotechnology, and telecommunications. By partnering with the private sector and civil society, it provides vocational education and training to youth in Rio. Wilson Risolia, the Secretary of Education, stated: "This project is primarily designed to provide education and training for secondary school students to enter the workforce. We currently have many projects in cooperation with international companies. For instance, regarding foreign languages, we determine which languages to offer based on the needs of these young students."
At the signing ceremony that day, 13 new institutions joined the project, with Mandarin being included for the first time. Mr. Wilson noted that with the continuous growth of the China-Brazil economy and the increasing presence of Chinese investors in Brazil, Mandarin has become an important foreign language. This "Cooperative Education Project" is just the beginning, and there will be more Portuguese-Chinese bilingual education plans in Rio in the future. He said: "Our key plan is to establish a Portuguese-Chinese bilingual school next year. Since Chinese is a relatively complex language, we plan to conduct pilot courses at one of our tourism-focused schools this year, and by next year, we will establish a fully-fledged Portuguese-Chinese bilingual school."
Regarding the scale of this instruction, Marina, Director of the International Exchange Center at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, explained: "Through the agreement signed today, our Confucius Institute will teach Chinese courses to 25 students from Brazilian public schools. The school is selected by the state government, and the school then selects the 25 students."
It is reported that these courses will begin this August. Ms. Qiao Jianzhen, the Chinese Director of the Confucius Institute in Rio, stated that in terms of curriculum arrangement, the Chinese courses will differ from standard Confucius Institute classes. She said: "This will be a continuous program, likely lasting two to three years. Since the students are primarily in the tourism field, in addition to basic courses, we may also offer courses related to tourism, the World Cup, and the Olympic Games, with the hope of training volunteers for the World Cup and the Olympics."
