The government of El Salvador has introduced the teaching of Bitcoin into the public curriculum. The step forward two years after the approval of the Bitcoin Ley
It was 7 September 2021 when El Salvador’s Bitcoin Law came into force, the law making bitcoin legal tender in the country. After an initial period in which the local government launched the Chivo wallet by giving away $30 in bitcoin to anyone who installed it – achieving great success in terms of downloads and consequent use of the wallet – today in El Salvador the use of Bitcoin in everyday life is rare. As Bitcoin Explorers reported in their report from the Central American country, adoption among the population has not only not improved since the law was passed, it has even worsened.
One of the main causes is to be found in education. Information about Bitcoin has not been encouraged by the public administration and has always rested on the shoulders of Mi Primer Bitcoin. Since its founding in 2021, the Salvadoran NGO has taught the basics of Bitcoin – creating a wallet, managing a seedphrase, importing the seedphrase to other wallets, payments, etc. – to over 25,000 kids.
Last year, Mi Primer Bitcoin also developed the Bitcoin Diploma, a 10-week course complete with textbook and final exam to introduce students to the subject.
The government initiative
One NGO, with a limited number of volunteer teachers, cannot meet the educational demand of an entire country. That is why the government decided to partner with Mi Primer Bitcoin and the Bitcoin Beach to open a teacher training programme aimed at bringing Bitcoin education to all schools starting next year.
The pilot programme aims to train 150 teachers from 75 institutions before they return to their classrooms to educate young Salvadorians based on the curriculum created by the Ministry of Education. If the programme is successful, it will be extended to all schools in the country in 2024. Since 7 September, Mi Primer Bitcoin has been training school teachers, as the non-profit itself reported on Twitter.
The potential redemption
Mike Peterson, founder of Bitcoin Beach, denounced how Chivo is subject to on-chain analysis and surveillance of user transactions. There are many testimonies from those who, seeing incoming transactions confirmed on the blockchain, have had their payments frozen, as they are not Ofac compliant, by Chivo. Surveillance, censorship and malfunctions have cast a bad light on Chivo, which, due to a lack of education, is indistinguishable from Bitcoin for a large part of the population.
In order for Salvadorians to be fully aware that they can use Bitcoin freely, changing wallets and using the software of their choice, managing their own keys themselves – similar to what they already do with cash – education must be widespread and of high quality. The Mi Primer Bitcoin textbook would be an excellent learning tool in this regard, but it is unclear whether it will be included in the programme dictated by the Ministry of Education.
Will government interests – with education focused solely on Chivo – or the will of associations like Mi Primer Bitcoin, at the forefront of sound technology education, prevail? On this answer will depend the outcome of the first major experiment in national Bitcoin adoption.
