Throughout 2014, over 18 million students took part in the 10th OBMEP Brazilian Public School Math Olympics – an initiative held annually by IMPA (National Institute for Pure and Applied Mathematics) and the Ministries of Education and Science, Technology and Innovation aiming to find new talents and encourage the study of Math in public schools in Brazil. The OBMEP is supported by Instituto TIM and has two phases: in the first one a multiple choice test is applied, and in the second, there is a dissertation test, both held at the school. At this moment, the registered schools are preparing for the second phase of the Olympics, scheduled for September 13th. Winners of OBMEP will be announced on December 1st.
Students participating in the initiative are from 6th to 9th year of Primary School and 1st, 2nd and 3rd years of High School. The goal is to reward 6,500 students (500 gold medallists, 1,500 silver and 4,500 bronze). Teachers, schools and municipal departments of Education that stand out during the contest will also receive awards and honors. The medallists take part in PIC (OBMEP’s Junior Scientific Initiation Program), through which they receive scholarships financed by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) to study Mathematics for a year. Since the first edition of the Olympics, 30,000 students have already participated in PIC. In 2014, when OBMEP celebrates its first decade, 6,500 students will be benefited.
In addition to supporting OBMEP, Instituto TIM will also contribute to the production of video lessons to the Portal da Matemática (Mathematics Portal) website. The video lessons cover the entire Math curriculum from the 6th year of Primary School to the 3rd year of High School, being a support material for both students and teachers.
