In Folha, Viana talks about the challenges of higher education.

Reproduction of Marcelo Viana's column in Folha de S. Paulo.

Kaio Vitor Ferreira Costa is 18 years old and comes from Rolim de Moura, a municipality of 56,000 inhabitants in the rural area of Rondônia, 480 km south of Porto Velho. The son of farmers, he grew up on the family farm. He says that among his earliest memories is receiving a box of chalk and a small blackboard, "where I learned to write my name and did my first arithmetic sums."

His parents' encouragement to study paid off: Kaio was a three-time medalist in the Obmep (Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools), created and held by Impa throughout the country since 2005. In 2023, he completed high school.

Read more: OBMEP breaks record and reaches 99.9% of the country's municipalities.
The inauguration of IMPA Tech is highlighted in the press.
Jacob Palis is honored with the Major Eustáquio Medal.

For young people from humble families, the next step is not obvious. Free public university education is a crucial instrument for mitigating social inequality. But it is far from sufficient, as the expenses of commuting and living in the big city, not to mention educational materials, are beyond everyone's reach. Many promising young people fall by the wayside, for the most unjust of reasons.