04/02/2019

Registration for OBMEP 2019 begins this Tuesday (5)

Registration for the 15th Brazilian Mathematics Olympiad for Public Schools (OBMEP) will open this Tuesday (5). Held by the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics (IMPA), the largest scientific competition in the country is aimed at students in Elementary School (6th to 9th grade) and High School.

Municipal, state, federal, and private schools can participate in the Olympiad, which last year brought together 18.2 million students from 99.4% of Brazilian municipalities.

Registration must be done by the schools, by filling out the Registration Form available exclusively on the OBMEP website ( www.obmep.org.br ). The deadline is March 15th.

The tests will be administered on May 21st (1st phase) and September 28th (2nd phase) and distributed according to the student's grade level: level 1 (6th and 7th grades), level 2 (8th and 9th grades), and level 3 (any year of high school).

OBMEP awards prizes separately to students from public and private schools. Students from public schools will receive 6,500 medals (500 gold, 1,500 silver, and 4,500 bronze) and up to 46,200 Honorable Mention certificates. Students from private institutions will receive 975 medals (75 gold, 225 silver, and 675 bronze) and up to 5,700 Honorable Mention certificates.

The winners will be announced on December 3rd. Those awarded gold, silver, or bronze medals will be guaranteed entry into scientific initiation programs.

Encouraging the study of Mathematics

Created by IMPA in 2005 and held with the support of the Brazilian Mathematical Society (SBM), the competition is promoted with resources from the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communications (MCTIC) and the Ministry of Education (MEC). It contributes to stimulating the study of Mathematics in Brazil, identifying talented young people and promoting social inclusion through the dissemination of knowledge.

Independent studies have already revealed the effective impact of the Olympiad on mathematics results. Schools that actively participated in the competition, according to work by former INEP president Chico Soares, show an improvement in student performance of 26 points on the Prova Brasil exam, equivalent to 1.5 years of extra schooling.

UNESCO support

With the theme of indigenous peoples, the 2019 OBMEP (Brazilian Mathematical Olympiad for Public Schools) has the support of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). In addition to the organization's seal, all promotional material for the Olympiad features the logo of the International Year of Indigenous Languages, a UNESCO initiative. The OBMEP 2019 posters are illustrated using mathematics in the symmetrical designs of indigenous peoples.