It’s never too late to learn: Globo TV airs story on OEC Education program

On October 16, Globo TV’s RJ2 news program ended with a moving story about the overcoming stories of OEC members working on the BRT Transoeste construction site in Rio de Janeiro, where one of the OEC Education program classrooms is underway.

Pedro Bassan, one of the broadcaster’s most experienced journalists, was at the construction site in person and was able to see first-hand the routine of the 18 workers who, after their workday, become Daniela’s students.

One of the examples told was that of José Xavier. At the age of 66, the bricklayer is having the opportunity to learn to read and write, which, according to him, is already helping him to catch the bus home without anyone’s help. Francisco Uldarico, a carpenter who in the past was denied a job because he couldn’t write, seized the opportunity to become literate. The father of newborn Maria Helena, he will be literate when his daughter is ready to say her first words.

The OEC Education program directs the company’s social action, guiding effective contributions to the promotion of education and people’s development. The literacy modules for vocational training aim to engage workers and the communities around the works carried out by the company. The inclusion promoted by the initiative encourages mature people to return to school, opening up a new range of opportunities. At the end of the courses, students are encouraged to take assessments and enter public schools, guaranteeing that they will continue their studies in the corresponding grade.

For Rogério Dourado, Contracts Director for the Rio de Janeiro market, the only thing you don’t lose in life is knowledge. “Education, as it was for me, is an agent of transformation and improvement in people’s lives.” Mariane Brito, from the Social Responsibility area and coordinator of the project, says that what education is doing in the lives of these students is immeasurable. “Every time I hear a testimony from someone who has managed to read a bus sign, write their full name, read their daughters’ names, it moves me and fills me with pride. It fills me to be part of a project that provides so much for people who no longer believed it was possible. Yes, it’s possible, it’s never too late,” she says.

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