Lula signs decree establishing the ‘Toda Matemática’ program
Minister of Education announced the program at the 19th OBMEP ceremony in June
On Wednesday, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva signed the decree establishing the National Commitment to All Mathematics, an initiative of the Ministry of Education (MEC) aimed at strengthening the teaching of the subject throughout the country and improving students’ academic performance.
“The Ministry of Education will organize partnerships with state governments, with mayors so that we can strengthen learning for Brazilian children,” said the president in a video published on social media.
For Marcelo Viana, director-general of IMPA, the program represents an unprecedented commitment by the federal government to the quality of mathematics teaching throughout Brazil.
“Through it, the MEC will coordinate actions with states and municipalities, promoting teacher training, providing teaching materials and tools to ensure the improvement of math teaching throughout the country. The union and dialogue with the other federative entities is establishing performance standards in the different education systems, both state and municipal, and recognizing the quality of the results of the different public networks,” said Viana.
The program had already been announced during the 19th OBMEP National Awards Ceremony, held in Rio de Janeiro in June. On that occasion, Education Minister Camilo Santana explained that the project aims to reduce regional inequalities in learning. In the video released alongside President Lula, the minister highlighted some of the initiative’s objectives.
“[We’re going to invest] in teacher training; with digital tools we’re going to assess the student, precisely so that the teacher can correct and outline strategies, but, fundamentally, [we’re going to] train teachers and [produce] pedagogical material focused on this. In the same way that we are recognizing [progress] in literacy, we are also going to recognize the progress made by municipalities and states in learning mathematics”
With an expected budget of R$70 million by 2025, the program earmarks resources for training teachers and administrators, as well as providing teaching materials and pedagogical support to education networks.
In Viana’s opinion, IMPA can play a very important role in the implementation of Toda Matemática. “Through its current and future activities in the area of basic education, particularly in the field of the Math Olympics and the continuing education of teachers and students. It should be noted that the nationwide collaboration networks built around these IMPA initiatives are a valuable tool for disseminating and implementing Toda Matemática actions.”
The Institute is responsible for organizing the OBMEP (Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad), for students from the 6th grade of elementary school to the 3rd grade of high school, and the OBMEP Mirim Olympiad, for students from the 2nd to the 5th grade of elementary school. The two scientific competitions reach 23.5 million students. The aim is to identify talent, stimulate and promote the study of mathematics, improve teaching in basic education and provide access to quality teaching materials.
“Another very important point is the wealth of data on the panorama of mathematics teaching in Brazil that is provided in each edition by OBMEP and the Olimpíada Mirim, which is a very important subsidy that IMPA makes available for decision-making by public authorities,” concluded Viana.
