Eighty teachers from all schools of the Region are attending, in the cities of Angra do Heroísmo and Ponta Delgada, a training programme on the portable computer Magalhães. This portable computer will be offered to all students of the first educational cycle.

Those who have partaken in this training course - provided by the companies JP Sá Couto, maker of the portable computer, Microsoft and Linux - will be able to train their fellow teachers of the first cycle, with the support of the Regional Directorate for Education and Vocational Training.

The training course began Thursday and ended on Friday at Tomás de Borba and Roberto Ivens schools.

In a message sent to the teachers, the Regional Secretariat for Education and Vocational Training underlined the importance of the  e-school programme for the "modernisation of education and for the creation of an inclusive world that is accessible to each student/discoverer "

The Secretary for Education and Vocational Training, Lina Mendes, said that the Magalhães portable computer is  " a complementary tool to be added to existing pedagogical resources" and that it is " a means of discovery that stimulates the curiosity of students and increases their will to learn and build a future."

The Secretary reminded that this new equipment will enable students from the archipelago to develop closer contacts, share information with the rest of the country and the world and concluded that this is "an excellent form to build and divulge our identity and culture."