Critical Software Joins Forces to Launch Revolutionary TUMO Education Programme in Portugal

TUMO is a free-of-charge educational programme that allows young people aged between 12 and 18 to develop their skills in technology and creativity. Created in 2011 in Armenia, it has proven to be hugely successful in putting young people in charge of their own learning.  

The first TUMO digital and creative technologies centre in Portugal will provide 1,500 students with an exciting new way of accessing a STEAM education. They’ll develop through self-learning activities, workshops, project labs, and more, in areas such as technology, animation, game development, and music. The first centre will open at the iconic Correios, Telefones e Telégrafo de Coimbra building and should be up and running by September. Young people will be able to apply in the second quarter of this year. 

The aim of this project is to empower young people to better deal with the challenges and opportunities of both work and life. TUMO offers the potential to really change lives, as Pedro Santa Clara, the project’s mentor in Portugal, explains:

“There is a structural need to train the next generation for the digital economy. TUMO is a free, complementary programme that works alongside mainstream education - uncomplicated and accessible. The range of subject areas makes it possible to reach young people with lots of different interests and this first TUMO centre in Portugal is an effective way of generating immediate and widespread impact”. 

Critical Software has long supported exciting initiatives in the city of Coimbra and being involved in this project marks the first of more TUMO education centres expected to open in Portugal over the next few years. Gonçalo Quadros, Critical Software’s Chairman, commented: 

“This is a project capable of transforming and raising the self-confidence of young people, who are our future. It offers them the chance to discover and develop their passions across diverse, creative subjects and will help them in creating, communicating, collaborating, and daring to dream, before they go on to university or work. TUMO will be a powerful contributor to building a more prosperous, vibrant, just, inclusive and fair society – offering opportunity regardless of background.” 

TUMO’s programmes are on-site, completely free of charge, and take place in young people’s free time. Through an individual and personalised learning path, accompanied by monitors, students are able to work on their technical and social skills, which they can then develop further in specialised workshops and laboratories. At the end of their course, each student receives a portfolio with the work they’ve completed — acting as an individual record of their learning. 

Critical has partnered with organisations such as Licor Beirão, Oxy Capital, Coimbra City Council, Altice Portugal, la Caixa Foundation, Santander Foundation, Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and Feedzai founders Paulo Marques and Pedro Bizarro in helping to launch TUMO in Portugal.

Registration for young students wishing to enrol will open during the second quarter of this year.  

Find out more here.