The Brazilian school that has become an education hub for close to 4,000 students from remote Amazon communities
Centro Educacional Primeiro Mundo, an independent kindergarten, primary and secondary school one of whose units is located in Canaã dos Carajás, Pará, Brazil, has become a driving force for educational access by becoming an educational hub in the middle of the Amazon for close to 4,000 young people growing up in the severely isolated region, connecting them to the same academic, scientific, and technological opportunities typically associated with major urban centres. Located in the remote southeastern Brazilian Amazon, the school serves a highly diverse student population connected to the region’s large mining operations, bringing together the children of company managers, operational workers, scholarship recipients, modest-income families, and Indigenous rainforest communities within one shared educational environment. Extreme inequality and diversity within the heterogeneous student population leave many learners lagging in development, feeling disconnected, and unable to see a future beyond their circumstances.
With the goal of ensuring students from dramatically different social, economic, cultural, and educational realities learn side by side while receiving the support necessary to succeed academically and socially, the school combines rigorous academic expectations with extensive support systems designed to close learning gaps without separating learners from the wider school community.
The school has developed one of the region’s strongest inclusion programmes through its Specialised Educational Service (AEE), which helps neurodivergent students, students with disabilities, and those who need specialised educational support. Out of more than 3,000 students, about 300 take part in the neurodiversity support programme, a move that makes sure students are never separated because of learning differences. A dedicated inclusion department works closely with students throughout their time at the school, offering personalised support, extra help, family involvement, and ongoing teacher training.
Inclusion also extends to Indigenous Kayapó students and other Indigenous communities across the Amazon region. Instead of using separate curricula, the school brings Indigenous students into the national curriculum and makes sure that local traditions, food, plants, culture, and Amazonian life are part of daily school experiences to ensure students can keep their cultural identity.
Inside classrooms, teachers balance traditional academic standards with high-performance scientific and international opportunities that are usually found in major metropolitan centres. Students participate in Cambridge English certification programmes, scientific enrichment initiatives, and academic Olympiads designed to build confidence, aspiration, and self-belief, inspiring all students to aim higher.
Teachers are key to helping students adjust to high-performance learning environments, making sure they feel supported both academically and emotionally. Ongoing teacher training strengthens the school’s inclusion efforts, so staff can support neurodivergent students, scholarship recipients, Indigenous learners, and students who come in with different academic backgrounds.
Families play an active role in the school community by staying in touch, supporting inclusion, and working together to support their children and help them succeed.
Within just three years, the school has grown from having virtually no participation in academic Olympiads to earning more than 1,000 medals across multiple national and international competitions. One of the school’s most visible success stories is a scholarship student who progressed from academic disengagement in a public school to representing Brazil internationally. After being selected from millions of participants in the Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad, he went on to win both collective and individual gold medals at the Latin American Olympiad on Astronomy and Astronautics. Expanding his horizons even further, he consolidated his place among the country's young scientific elite by also competing in the European Physics Olympiad (EuPhO) in Sweden and the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA) in Vietnam.
Partnerships have been key in helping Centro Educacional Primeiro Mundo connect the Amazon region with major educational centres. By working with the Inspira network, international programmes, and institutions like the University of Cambridge, students are given the opportunity to earn global certifications, join academic enrichment activities, and take part in international competitions that are usually out of reach for remote Amazonian communities.
