26/08/2019

Elio Gaspari defends OBMEP's Scientific Initiation programs.

Fabíola Loterio recebe medalha de ouro na cerimônia de premiação da OBMEP 2017

Reproduction of Elio Gaspari 's column.

Bolsonarism must have found signs of Gramscian Marxism and gender ideology in the four basic mathematical operations.

This alone would explain the decision by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) not to renew the contract for the Scientific Initiation and Master's Program for young people who won medals in the Mathematics Olympiads and went on to university. There are 650 students, and each of them receives R $ 400 per month. That's about R $ 3.1 million per year. (In its first few months, the government spent R $ 1.6 million on medals for its awardees.)

The Mathematics Olympics are the most successful pedagogical experiment ever created for the underprivileged in Brazil. Children from public schools take the exam, and each year gold, silver, and bronze medals are awarded. In addition to the prize, medalists enter a Scientific Initiation Program that gives them access to two days a month of classes at nearby universities. Originally, the Widow covered the costs of transportation and meals. The education department's meat grinder eliminated this assistance, and today it amounts to R $ 100 per month. If the child lives far away, they can access the classes online.

In 2015, the medal-winning triplets Fábia, Fabiele, and Fabíola Loterio moved the country with their story. They were 15 years old and lived in the countryside in the Rio do Norte district of Espírito Santo. They didn't have internet at home, and the school was 21 kilometers from the property where their parents grew vegetables.

Today, the triplets are at the Federal University of Espírito Santo. With their family's resources, they could hardly live on the R $ 400 from the CNPq scholarship. Thanks to an initiative by TIM, they will continue at the university, as they each receive R $ 1,200. (TIM helps 200 young people in a program that costs it R $ 2.9 million annually.) Those who depend solely on CNPq are doomed.

If no one speaks up, in September CNPq may also cut the Scientific Initiation Program, which provides monthly scholarships of R $ 100 to 6,000 medalists. This was the program that allowed the triplets access to their first classes with professors from the Federal University of Espírito Santo.

It's hard to understand why Bolsonaro's education advisors are cutting funding for programs that cost little and encourage young people who have demonstrated their abilities. In a way, they're only taking advantage of the kids from the lower classes, those who need R $ 100 or R $ 400 a month. And this is happening in the middle of the school year.

By racking their brains, one might suspect that the government has perceived the malignant activism of the four basic mathematical operations. By learning to add, young people can bring together environmentalists, quilombola communities, LGBT people, and supporters of the Workers' Party. The smartest ones can learn to multiply them, subtracting anti-globalists and militiamen. For the prophets of this new era, this could lead to division.