OBMEP ceremony awards 650 students and Lula with medals

11/06/2024

On Tuesday ( 11), the OBMEP (Brazilian Public School Math Olympics) awarded 650 students from all over Brazil with the gold medal for the 18th edition, held in 2023. The event in Rio de Janeiro was attended by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, first lady Janja Lula da Silva, ministers Camilo Santana (Education) and Luciana Santos (Science, Technology and Education), Rio mayor Eduardo Paes and IMPA director-general Marcelo Viana.

Creator of the OBMEP as president in 2005, Lula was thrilled to receive a special tribute from IMPA: the honorary medal of the Olympiad, together with the first lady, Janja. “Of all the titles I have, I think this gold medal means a lot to me,” he said.

In his speech, the president highlighted the growth and success of the Olympics, which brings together more than 18 million participants every year. “I want everyone to have the same chance to compete for opportunities to see who is who in the history of this country. The success of the OBMEP has been so extraordinary that in the first edition we had 10 million participants, in the second 14 million and we’ve now reached 18 million students: 99.9% of city halls have joined the Math Olympiad. OBMEP is in more than 56,000 schools in 99.9% of municipalities. It’s an extraordinary success,” said the president.

For Minister Camilo Santana, the Olympiad “has helped to improve the quality of basic education in this country and improves integration between schools”. “Almost 19 million young people take part in OBMEP. It’s not an event of competition, but of integration with science and technology.”

IMPA’s partner in the creation of IMPA Tech, an undergraduate program inaugurated in April in Porto Maravalley, the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes, told the story of the municipal secretary of education, Renan Ferreirinha, with OBMEP. “The strength of testimony is stronger than anything else. Ferreirinha came to the secretariat for a very simple reason: the medals he has on his chest. He comes from São Gonçalo, on the outskirts of Rio, studied in a public school and through the math Olympiad, created by Lula, won a place at Harvard University (USA) and became secretary of education for the largest public school system in Latin America. You can do anything you want.

IMPA’s director-general, Marcelo Viana, highlighted the reunion of the OBMEP awards with Rio de Janeiro and the President of the Republic. “This is the first time since 2015 that the President of the Republic has taken part in this very special moment, when Brazil celebrates its most talented young people. It’s a huge honor that President Lula has bestowed on us and for which I express the gratitude of IMPA and OBMEP. The event also marks the return of the ceremony to the Marvelous City after a six-year break, thanks to a partnership with the city council.

Lula signed the decree establishing the “More Science at School” program. “The program will strengthen scientific culture within schools, disseminate digital literacy and implement maker labs and grants for teachers and students,” said Luciana Santos.

Awards

Excited, the gold medalists took to the stage representing their states to receive their long-awaited medals. The ceremony awarded the 650 best-placed students in the 18th edition of the Olympiad, with 55,300 schools from 99.8% of Brazilian municipalities. The winners can take part in the Jr. Scientific Initiation Program (PIC), which offers advanced math classes and a R$300 monthly grant from the CNPq for students from public schools. IMPA Tech’s first graduating class was present at the event, with nine gold medalists from the 18th edition of OBMEP.

Olympic Girls and Multi-Medalists

Another highlight was the presentation of the “Olympic Girls Trophy” to Luisa Batista Mesquita (DF), Maria Clara Fontes Silva (SE), Sara Miyuka Abe (SP) and Isabela Ruthner Dorn (CE). Since 2017, IMPA has awarded the distinction to the best-performing students at each OBMEP level. Also called to the stage were 14 OBMEP multimedalists – winners of the competition four, five or six times with the gold medal.

About OBMEP

Created in 2005 by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA) and organized with the support of the Brazilian Mathematics Society (SBM), the competition is promoted with funds from the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) and the Ministry of Education (MEC).

Aimed at students from the 6th year of primary school to the 3rd year of secondary school, OBMEP helps to stimulate the study of mathematics and identify young talents in the subject. Other objectives of the initiative are to promote social inclusion through the dissemination of knowledge and to contribute to improving the quality of basic education, enabling a greater number of Brazilian students to access quality teaching material.