17/07/2018

Article reveals the hidden talents of OBMEP.

Hexacampeão da OBMEP, Rodrigo luta contra o tempo para conciliar a necessidade de trabalhar com os estudos para o Enem. Crédito: Marianna Rios/SAGI/MDS

In the last seven editions of the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools), beneficiaries of the Bolsa Família Program have won 1,288 medals. The article “Hidden Talents: Bolsa Família Beneficiaries as Medalists in the Mathematical Olympiad” – part of Study Notebook 30 – Social Development in Debate, a publication of the Secretariat for Evaluation and Information Management of the Ministry of Social Development (MDS) – presents the trajectory of the program's beneficiaries in the OBMEP. The initial part of the article was published on July 3rd on the IMPA website. Below is another excerpt from the publication.

Another champion with several medals on his resume is Maxmilian Barros de Siqueira from Alagoas. At 17 years old, the five-time OBMEP champion and honorable mention recipient in the Brazilian Astronomy Olympiad (OBA) is pursuing a degree in Mathematics at the Federal University of Alagoas (Ufal), while also receiving a scholarship from the PIC-ME scientific initiation program. “I have a supervisor to help me with the more advanced subjects to facilitate my entry into the master's program. The idea is that I will start my master's degree in the 6th or 7th semester.”

Maxmilian is the first of five children in his family to attend university. The change in perspective was so significant when he was accepted into the Mathematics course in the second semester of 2017 that part of the family decided to move from their hometown, São José da Laje, to Maceió. Maxmilian lives with his mother, Gilvaneide Barros, and his younger brother in the capital, while three siblings remain with their grandmother in the countryside.

The household income basically depends on Bolsa Família (a government welfare program) and the pension received after the death of the father, a former military police officer. “We’re not lacking anything, but the income isn’t flexible; we live close to the limit,” laments Maxmilian. “Bolsa Família helps, because the pension is the only income we have. I use the Bolsa Família money to buy their school supplies,” says Gilvaneide.

Maxmilian says that his passion for mathematics arose during the three years he attended the in-person PIC program, from 2012 to 2014. “The PIC program allowed us to see pure mathematics, unlike the applied mathematics we saw in school. And that's when I saw that mathematics went beyond what school shows. With the PIC program, there was a reason behind everything; it was very rewarding, and we felt motivated,” he recalls.

The student recalls the important role of the school in supporting students' career paths, especially the teachers in guiding young people. "I was very lucky, because perhaps I wouldn't have followed the path I did without the school's support. Today I have friends who are in Medicine, Nursing, Law… people are in university," he celebrates.

In addition to school support, another factor that can encourage good student performance is the positive influence of having an medalist in the classroom. In 2017, researcher Diana Moreira defended her doctoral thesis at Harvard University evaluating this issue: Recognizing performance: how awards affect winners' and peers' performance in Brazil.

Moreira evaluated the impact generated in the school environment by winners of honorable mentions in the OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools) and concluded that recognition increases the academic performance not only of the winners, but also of their classmates, who improved their participation and scores in future editions of the Olympiad by about 20%. According to the study, this effect can increase university admissions by 10%. To arrive at these results, the researcher used data from more than five million Brazilian students in 170,000 classrooms.

Poverty hides talent.

The harsh reality of poverty and extreme poverty in Brazil can hide talents like those of Luiz and Maxmilian. “It’s very important to have some kind of structure that encourages you and gives you the confidence to try and believe. I’ve rarely met a medalist who didn’t have a family support system,” points out Claudio Landim.

The financial vulnerability of these families is the main factor that weakens attempts to change their future. At 19 years old, six-time OBMEP champion Rodrigo Gonçalves do Nascimento, a resident of the municipality of Capela do Alto, in the interior of São Paulo, is fighting against time to reconcile the need to work with dedication to his studies in order to pass the ENEM exam and begin his long-awaited undergraduate degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Federal University of São Carlos (UFSCAR).

Since graduating high school in 2016, Rodrigo has been trying to achieve his ultimate goal of going to college, while also contributing to the household income. He has already had four different jobs. In his last one, without a formal contract, he worked 12 hours a day, including weekends, at a small market in a neighboring town, with only one day off per week.

“I had to stop everything to work, but I want to be someone. My whole family doesn't have a college degree, my mother always worked cleaning houses, my father is a caretaker and earns very little. I want to leave my city for a bigger, better city with more opportunities,” Rodrigo reflects.

In the meantime, he completed a technical course in administration and started another in computer science, but nothing can dissuade him from his desire to go to college. For 2018, Rodrigo left his last job to dedicate himself full-time to the ENEM exam (Brazilian National High School Exam). To help pay the household bills, he plans to do odd jobs selling sweets and repairing computers.

Rodrigo has the support of his mother, Iolanda Borba, and his stepfather, Agnaldo da Silva, who sell snacks and do cleaning work to bring income to the family. They receive Bolsa Família (a government welfare program) through their youngest son, Ryan, who is 16 years old. “Bolsa Família has helped me a lot, even though it's not much. I use it for food, water bills, and electricity bills,” says Iolanda.

If he passes the ENEM exam, Rodrigo hopes to receive housing and food assistance from the university so he can dedicate himself exclusively to his studies. His next goal is also already set: an exchange program in Portugal. “I want to study abroad for at least a semester. Others say I dream too much, but I don't consider it a dream, I consider it a goal,” he jokes. “It's difficult to achieve anything, only through studying, and perhaps only Rodrigo will secure a future. Although we give him a lot of support, it's every man for himself,” says Iolanda.

Cases like Rodrigo's highlight the urgent need to create more opportunities and incentives so that these brilliant young people can develop their potential. This requires joint efforts – from both the public and private sectors – to ensure that these talents do not remain hidden.