00:24It's the last day of school before the summer break for the pupils at this renowned international
00:29school in Lisbon.
00:31The atmosphere is relaxed, but behind the playful exercises the children are running
00:35on their tablets lies a lesson in digital literacy and computer programming.
00:41Their tool is Ubu, a Portuguese educational platform designed for children aged 6 to 14.
00:48It looks like they are just playing a game, but they are working a lot of different things
00:53on them.
00:54They need to understand, well, I have a computer, what do I need to use a computer?
00:57I have a robot, what do I need to make him do, so it's logic, it's math, they need to
01:02count
01:02the steps.
01:03Here we need to, like, read what is here about the international space station.
01:11It helps them to read instructions, otherwise they won't pass the level.
01:15It makes them understand, okay, so in my life I also need to read everything and I need
01:20to complete all the steps.
01:21This is the World Cup.
01:22This is the World Cup, exactly.
01:24Do you want to try to answer?
01:25Yes.
01:26Yeah, I want to.
01:27At the same time that they are learning computational thinking, computational skills, they are also
01:32learning about the World Cup and the countries and capitals.
01:37This also helps them to feel more comfortable with typing numbers of letters.
01:43Typing skills.
01:44Typing skills, it's really important for them in the future.
01:46and the fact that it's great makes them want to be better.
01:50Nice, 18 seconds.
01:54We meet Ubu's CEO and founder in a discreet street of Lisbon.
01:58As true digital nomads, he and his team have set up their offices in the relaxed atmosphere of a co
02:04-working space.
02:06A former financial and strategic advisor, João Magalhaes turned social entrepreneur in 2015,
02:12when he and a few friends founded the Code for All group dedicated to spreading digital literacy.
02:20Technology was entering into our lives, into our jobs, into our homes, into the schools of our children.
02:27And we believe that no one was prepared for the speed that was happening.
02:31We decided to launch two different programs.
02:34One was how to help people without any background experience in tech to move to work in tech.
02:40And also at the same time, how to prepare the young generations to have a sustainable future in an increasingly
02:45digital world.
02:46So we built a turnkey solution for any teacher, any school or any government that was to introduce skills like
02:53digital literacy,
02:54computational thinking, creativity, STEAM, and more recently, AI and cybersecurity.
03:02Ubu now reaches half a million children and is used by more than 8,000 teachers worldwide, mainly in Europe,
03:09but also in Latin America and Asia.
03:1317 of the group's 200 employees are currently working for the platform.
03:18Content is constantly invented or updated.
03:23The kids don't program with written language.
03:26We teach them to use these blocks and create their own code.
03:30It's all related to a narrative with SDGs.
03:34Sustainable development goals.
03:36They will create something that is ethical, good for the world, use the technology for good.
03:42We live in a world where these skills are no longer a choice.
03:46They're completely mandatory for anyone.
03:48And knowing how to work within technology, but also with technology in a safe way, in a responsible way and
03:55in an ethical way, it's incredibly important.
03:57We're not trying to make every kid become a programmer.
04:01We want them to learn the skills that they are going to be useful to their day-to-day activities.
04:07I really believe that we are giving superpowers to local teachers.
04:11And also at the same time, we are helping these younger generations to do a big transformation.
04:16And the transformation is moving from consumers of technology into creators of technology.
04:21Making that shift accessible tool is at the heart of the company's social impact commitment.
04:28We have a partnership with the Portugal Social Innovation Fund, with the Mayo Foundation, with Siemens, with Montepieu, that support
04:37public schools that want to have this program for free.
04:40The entrepreneur had invited the executive director of the Mayo Foundation, Portugal's top telecom company's social impact branch, to meet
04:50us.
04:51Supporting UBU was an obvious choice, says the head of the foundation, focused on digital literacy and inclusive technology.
04:58First of all, we prepare the new generation for what's coming.
05:03And the change will be huge in terms of the skills they need.
05:07With UBU and by being in schools where you really need priority intervention that are in less favorable areas,
05:15because you give access to these capabilities to children from all backgrounds,
05:21and you ensure that where you were born does not define what you can achieve in life.
05:30We visit a school in one of Lisbon's priority intervention educational areas.
05:36Adua and her classmates wouldn't have missed the last online lesson of the term with their teacher Isabel for anything
05:42in the world.
05:43You've already programmed a lot of things.
05:45You're going to program a lot of your first game.
05:48We're going to do a full down.
05:50The objective is to lift the floor.
05:53Trained in digital education, Isabel was specifically entrusted with this class made in majority of foreign children.
06:01How are you going to discover here? How are you going to tell the steps?
06:05Where are you going to enter?
06:08What are you going to tell?
06:09Robots?
06:10I'm going to visit the whole, right?
06:12It is.
06:13The quadrados.
06:14Very well, good.
06:16We have many nationalities here, we couldn't communicate.
06:20A UBU was our point of encounter, because everybody liked to use a UBU
06:24and it was a way to get a attention of my students.
06:27From there, I could introduce others.
06:31They're autonomous, they use the security computer, the tablet,
06:35they read, they write, and write.
06:38It's been only a year, but there are great progress.
07:06We learn and learn at the same time. I learned how to program, how to design.
07:13We can make our own robot.
07:17So you're making it pink, right? Always pink.
07:21I enjoyed that Erwa could do that. I'm watching Erwa do that.
07:26So I say, Erwa, good job and keep it up.
07:29I personally work in finance and now we use a lot of coding.
07:33Learning is the hard way at this age. I think in the future, in 10 years and 20 years,
07:39you cannot do anything without coding and programming and robotics.
07:43Only the best of us who know these things, they will be the leader. They will be future leaders.
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