Brazilian students cover G20 meetings as journalists

State school students from two Brazilian states covered G20 meetings as journalists. Members of educommunication projects actively participated in events in São Luís and Fortaleza, interviewing experts and producing digital content. The initiative aims to help young people learn about global topics and develop digital communication skills.

Five students from São Luís—from the Almirante Tamandaré, Dayse Galvão de Sousa, and Estefânia Rosa da Silva high schools—worked together to cover the G20 in the capital of Maranhão. Accompanied by teachers and project managers from the state Department of Education, they delved into the agenda of the Digital Economy Working Group meeting focused on information security, artificial intelligence, and universal connectivity. 

William Vinícius, 17, a student at CEM Dayse Galvão de Sousa, said that this is his first year in the Imprensa Jovem project, which he described as a positive experience. “We know that G20 topics are very important. I acquired a lot of information and knowledge that we will now share at school, with our families and communities, on the channels we have,” he detailed.

According to Fernanda Maciel, pedagogical coordinator at CEM Dayse Galvão de Sousa, the latter is already working with digital media. According to Maciel, the goal is to promote learning and make protagonists out of male and female students. “We already have more than 6 thousand followers. Our students work directly on local coverage of internal, school, and external events in which the school participates. One of the general skills in the curriculum is digital communications. So we cannot think about the world of work they will be part of without reflecting on digital communications. The G20 is a positive experience for our students as it is for me as an educator,” she said.

Simultaneously, 900 kilometers away, 13 students from Fortaleza produced exclusive interviews with G20 country representatives and took part in press conferences with local authorities. During the three-day event, they acted as reporters, camera operators, photographers, and producers. 

Julianna Sampaio, communications coordinator at the Ceará Department of Education, explained the invitation from the  Brazilian Presidency’s Communications Secretariat (Secretaria de Comunicação da Presidência da República) mobilized schools to take part in the project, encouraging students to cover events in all cities that host G20 meetings. “This project is very significant. Students have the opportunity to follow an international event and study topics that are relevant to their reality,” she noted. 

Hélio Vicenzo, an Audiovisual student at the Jaime Alencar State School of Professional Education, said it was a great experience. “I learned to put into practice the theoretical content I studied in my Audiovisual classes. I learned a lot about the G20, about political and economic issues. We must be aware of all these political and financial issues. I hope this initiative spreads to more schools like ours,” said Vicenzo.

The work of Imprensa Jovem complies with the Brazilian Media Education Strategy (Estratégia Brasileira de Educação Midiática) launched in 2023 by the  Brazilian Presidency’s Social Communications Secretariat to promote media literacy, production, editing, and dissemination of content based on the voices of children and adolescent students from state schools. 

International Relations students follow G20 meeting

In the educational context of the G20, a group of 17 students from the International Relations course at the State University of Maranhão (Universidade Estadual do Maranhão/UEMA) participated in the Digital Economy Working Group meeting in São Luís. They attended debates with experts, global leaders, and government representatives on data protection, digital inclusion, digital government, and artificial intelligence. The students highlighted the visit as a unique opportunity to experience in practice what they learned in the classroom. They also celebrated the initiative of holding the international cooperation forum in Maranhão.

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