Photo: Prensa Latina.

Brasilia, Aug 11 (RHC) Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended Thursday the application of public resources in educational programs and the construction of universities to prevent the departure of researchers to other countries.

Visiting the construction site of the new headquarters of the Institute of Pure and Applied Mathematics - IMPA - in Rio de Janeiro, the president said that "this country cannot continue to allow its geniuses to be trained abroad and to work abroad if we can train them here and offer them work here".

He pointed out that there are questions about the expenses in building this college and apartments, but everything "brings a beneficial result for the people, for the municipality, for the state".

He specified that for the Union it is an investment and not an expense. "There is no cheaper investment than investing in education. Education is going to guarantee that this country will be what the people have dreamed of for so long," he reiterated. Located in the port region of Rio, IMPA's new headquarters will house the institute's first graduation course.

Students will be selected based on their performance in the Brazilian Public School Mathematics Olympiad. The course will begin in 2024, with 100 openings.

In his speech, Lula also criticized the last government which, in his assessment, did not contribute to education. "It is not acceptable that a happy country, that likes music, that likes to dance, that has wonderful and happy people, vote for a liar (referring to former president Jair Bolsonaro), a guy who told 11 lies a day," he denounced.

A citizen, he continued, who "made fake news every day, who preached hatred, disrespect and did not educate, and did not encourage anyone to buy a book, only to buy a gun," he said.

During his speech, Lula committed himself to the training of promising young people in mathematics and placed in them the hope that they will lead the future of the country. He called to invest in outstanding students to turn them into "the geniuses we did not manage to be" and the people who will fix the country. (Source: Prensa Latina).