Knowledge Olympics 2006
General Review

 

This year's Knowledge Olympics has broken all records. According to SENAI's Director General José Manuel de Aguiar Martins, the final stage of the competition on vocational training, carried out between 6 and 14 March in Recife, has been the most important activity promoted by the entity since its first edition in 2001.

Surrounded by the emotion of victory and the overcoming of challenges, the celebration gathered more than 1,500 people in the Chevrolet Hall. Apart from the joy of competitors who climbed the podium and of teams, guests were received with shows of rhythms and attractions of the culture of Pernambuco.

Champions

The students of SENAI São Paulo obtained the largest number of medals: 15 gold, 7 silver and 5 bronze medals. Pernambuco, host State, won three gold medals, two silver and six bronze medals and it showed the best performance among North Eastern States. The teams of Minas Gerais, with three gold, twelve silver and seven bronze medals and the team of Rio Grande do Sul with five gold, two silver and four bronze medals also stood out.

Students who showed the best performance throughout the competition were also rewarded. The best student honour of the Olympics was shared between Stephanie Schafer Lock Neto of Parana, in the area of Fashion and Garment Design and Fabrício de Souza Medeiros, Rodrigo Ferreira de Souza and Martin de Oliveira of São Paulo, in Industrial Robotics. All of them had 100 per cent correct answers in the test.

Evolution

According to the assessment of Regional Director of SENAI-PE Antonio Carlos Maranhao, there has been an extraordinary evolution compared to the previous Olimpics, which shows the strength of the teaching methodology of SENAI in the development of competencies in Brazilian youth. "Brazil will stop being a country of the future and will begin to be a country of the present when these young people are given opportunities", he stated.

He also said that since the Olympics has changed its name to Tournament on Vocational Training, there has been a clear evolution in the competition, whose tests place students in the situation of having to face reality-like work conditions.

Associates

During the final stage of the competition, roughly 200,000 people attended the event. Only in Plaza de la Ciudadanía, 95 applications were made, ranging from the pieces of work done by the Industry Social Service (SESI) and the detailed professionalizing work offered by SENAI and other entities of System S. "There were great movements of the System S, demonstrating that they think high of vocational education", said Antonio Carlos Maranhao.

He reminded that more than 45 thousand students from public and private schools of intermediate level of Pernambuco and other States have already visited the space. In 2004, the number of people who participated in the third Olympics amounted to 100 thousand.

Services and courses

The Knowledge Olympics 2006 was carried out by SENAI and it was not only recognised by competitors and teachers but also by the event's organisers on account of the record number of people attending the final stage.

The amount of assistance provided in Plaza de la Ciudadanía also broke all records: 95 thousand medical and dentist appointments, courses, services, education and talks were offered to the community. More than 70 courses were given (each of them had a duration of 6 hours and a half), with 20 thousand vacancies.

The Inter-American Centre for Knowledge Development in Vocational Training (ILO/Cinterfor)
Avda. Uruguay 1238 - Montevideo - Uruguay - Tel: (5982) 908 6023 - 902 0557 - 908 0545 - Fax: (5982) 902 1305
webmaster@cinterfor.org.uy

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