El Salvador is all set to introduce Bitcoin in public school curriculum by 2024. This will be done through the Ministry of Education of El Salvador’s partnership with non-profit, non-governmental organisation Mi Primer Bitcoin (MPB).
The initiative is a part of the Ministry of Education’s project, which will be assisted by MPB, along with Bitcoin Beach. It will utilise Mi Primer Bitcoin programme’s primary source material for Bitcoin education.
Founded by John Dennehy, the Mi Primer Bitcoin program was launched in 2021 with the support of the Salvadoran government. It offers free Bitcoin education to Salvadorans and has received funding from the LookingGlass as well as IBEX Mercado, which is a Bitcoin and Lightning Network service provider. It announced the recent partnership in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
The training for the pilot program is scheduled to begin on 7 September. A total of 150 public school teachers from 75 schools will be taught the Bitcoin diploma program to kick-start the mission. This will provide them with a “base knowledge” of Bitcoin.
After this initial training, the teachers will return to their own schools and teach students from the curriculum created by the Ministry of Education. If this process becomes successful, the programme will be rolled out to every school in the country next year, said the founder of MPB, John Dennehy.
He added: “As the first nation to adopt Bitcoin, El Salvador will be an example for the world. Quality education is our best chance to ensure that that example is a positive one…..When My First Bitcoin began two years ago, one of the dreams was to educate a nation. This is a significant step toward that.”
El Salvador is known for pioneering the mainstream adoption of Bitcoin, embracing the cryptocurrency as legal tender on 8 June 2021. Just one month into this big move, there were more Salvadorans with Bitcoin wallets than traditional bank accounts in the country.
Another key project in El Salvador is Bitcoin Beach, which also has a role in MPB’s new partnership. It seeks to create a sustainable Bitcoin economic ecosystem on the coast of El Salvador. According to its whitepaper, Bitcoin Beach is a movement to ensure Bitcoin’s potential is realised by helping those who have been excluded from the banking system.
Based in El Zonte, the majority of people here do not have access to bank accounts. The place soon rose as one of the first locales in the country to accept Bitcoin as a payment method, further inspiring the country’s adoption of the cryptocurrency as a legal tender.
Crypto has been popularly used in countries like El Salvador where almost 70% of its citizens are currently unbanked. As revealed by Dennehy, MPB is already in early talks with two other governments in Latin America that are interested in following the El Salvadorian-path of Bitcoin education for local students.
Talking about the greater mission to bring Bitcoin education to the world, the founder said: “El Salvador is leading the way with public Bitcoin education, and we expect other nations to follow. The world is watching.”
