14/04/2020

OBMEP 2020 breaks record for participating municipalities.

The 1Fridays edition of the Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP) broke a record for the number of participating municipalities: 5,561. This is six more than in 2019 and represents the significant milestone of 99.84% of Brazilian cities. In total, 17,729,451 students from 51,932 municipal, state, federal, and private schools will participate in the country's largest scientific competition.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the OBMEP organization clarifies that the schedule is being carefully altered so that all schools, teachers, and students can participate in the competition safely. They assure that the Olympiad will not be canceled.

The tests are conducted in two phases and divided by grade level: level 1 (Fridays and 7th grades of Elementary School), level 2 (8th and 9th grades), and level 3 (High School). A total of 7,475 medals will be awarded to participants. For students from public schools, there will be 500 gold, 1,500 silver, and 4,500 bronze medals. And for students from private schools, 75 gold, 225 silver, and 675 bronze medals will be awarded.

All OBMEP medalists will be invited to participate in the Junior Scientific Initiation Program (PIC Jr.) as an incentive and promotion of academic development. Award-winning students from the public school system receive a Junior Scientific Initiation scholarship from CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) of R$100 per month. Medalists from private schools may participate in PIC Jr. as auditors. If a medalist begins an undergraduate course in the first semester of 2021, they may participate in the selection process for the PICME ( Scientific Initiation and Master's Program ). Those selected will receive a scholarship of R$400.

In addition to contributing to the stimulation of mathematics studies in the country, OBMEP seeks to identify talented young people and promote social inclusion through the dissemination of knowledge. Created by IMPA in 2005, the competition is held with the support of the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM) using resources from the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC) and the Ministry of Education (MEC).