Angolan President inaugurates first A42 School

Angolan President João Lourenço inaugurated Wednesday, the first School of the Network 42 “School 42” in the country, which does not have any professors and is open 24 hours per day with students trained through peer-to-peer pedagogy, and project-based learning.

Accompanied by the First Lady of the Republic, Ana Dias Lourenço, members of the government and the management of the educational establishment, João Lourenço toured some areas of the school unit, having received information about its operation.

At School 42, in Luanda, with about 300 computers, students will learn virtually the fundamental concepts of programming and can choose, among other specializations, cyber security, data analytics, web development.

In Angola, School 42 will operate at the Higher Polytechnic Institute of Technologies and Communication (ISPTEC), in Luanda, under the financial support of the Ministry of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas, of an estimated budget of around three million dollars.

Known internationally as “A42”, the initiative was founded in Paris, France, in 2013, and has more than 18,000 students spread over 50 schools around the world, with Angola being the first in sub-Saharan Africa to embrace the concept.

At School 42 you learn, in a practical way, in a model that looks like a game, says an information note on the project released in the Angolan capital.

Without teachers or books, learning takes place through the development of projects that allow you to earn points and pass levels, as if it were a game.

Once the basics have been learned, each student is free to design their own path, choosing the projects that allow them to gain knowledge in the areas that interest them most.

There are no classes or set timetables. The campus is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

So each student has the freedom and responsibility to build their own learning plan and work at their own pace when they are most productive.

Free and inclusive education

Learning in 42 schools is completely free and inclusive. It does not require any academic degree or background knowledge in programming.

The only requirement is that candidates must be at least 17 years old, work on practical projects and with the help of other students, with a differentiating factor of the “42 pedagogy” and with daily and weekly assessment.

Selecting candidates

Candidates are selected by an automatic tool, with no human interference in ranking them and choosing who gets to be a student.

Successful cadets are placed on the job market in less than 24 months, after which they must do a compulsory, paid professional internship that must be completed in six months.

Curriculum

The curriculum is updated by a Pedagogical Committee (PC) that includes industry professionals from around the world to ensure that students at 42 schools have the same level, regardless of whether they are in Luanda or Tokyo.

Training program

The training program of Schools 42, and which the Angola government is now licensed to implement in Luanda, is structured in 21 levels of learning, with the conclusion of the first seven levels, the student completes a base that is the same for everyone in the network, whether they are in Luanda or Singapore.

After the apprenticeship, the student decides the specialization area he/she wishes to follow, with the possibility of going to any school in the network.

This decision is strictly based on your personal decision.

Specializations in computer graphics, AI, web and mobile development, network administration and cybersecurity are available.

Funding

Typically schools are funded by one or more individual and corporate philanthropists who recognize the importance of supporting digital workforce education readiness.

Schools 42 set out to solve a problem identified by employers looking for exceptional talent.

Network 42 in Portuguese-speaking Countries

In Portuguese-speaking countries, we find the 42 network in Lisbon, Porto (Portugal), São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Belo Horizonte (Brazil).

Network 42 schools are also present in the world’s largest financial hubs such as Singapore, London, Hong Kong, and Luxembourg.

These schools are in the Top 10 of the most innovative and inclusive schools, above Tokyo Institute, MIT, Berkeley Tech and Stanford.

The network of schools attracts the interest of market partners from the Information and Communication Technologies industry such as Microsoft, HP, Apple, IBM, Amazon, SAP and CISCO.

The inauguration of the school comes after Sonangol and the Technical Management Unit of the National Staff Training Plan (UTG/PNFQ) signed a cooperation protocol in March 2022 for the implementation of “School 42” in the Angolan capital

Source: Angola Press News Agency