27/10/2017

CBN Radio: OBMEP risks not being held in 2018

Radio broadcast from CBN

The Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools is at risk of not being held next year. This statement comes from the director of the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), Marcelo Viana. IMPA is responsible for organizing the OBMEP. Viana says that with the budget cuts already planned for next year, it will be impossible to hold the event. The Olympiad costs R$ 53 million. This amount is divided between the Ministry of Education – which has so far guaranteed the funding – and the Ministry of Science and Technology, which will stop transferring its share to IMPA if it suffers the expected budget reduction of at least 50% for next year.

"It's not possible to hold the Mathematics Olympiad with this kind of cut-off. We are the country that won the Fields Medal, the highest award in Mathematics, and IMPA is an institute involved in high-impact social projects, such as the Mathematics Olympiad."

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The Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP) has been held annually since 2005. Currently, it involves students from 99.7% of the country's municipalities. Considered the main school event in Brazil, the Olympiad mobilizes 18 million students from 53,000 schools. To give an idea of its size, the number of candidates in the National High School Exam (ENEM) represents one-third of this total. OBMEP costs R$ 3 per student, while each ENEM exam costs R$ 91. The director of IMPA also predicts that the institute's budget for next year will reach a maximum of R$ 39 million. This amount is less than half of what was projected for 2017, which was R$ 80 million. In a statement, the Ministry of Science and Technology said that the figures for 2018 are still being discussed and that there is no definitive detail on cuts or increases in the ministry's budget. The ministry also stated that it continues to work with the Finance and Planning ministries to restore the budget in 2017 and to ensure compliance with the 2018 budget.

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Report by Bárbara Souza