The Scientific Olympics in which hundreds of Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate students meet each year in the specialties of mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, geology, economics or computer science, are left without the funding that the Community of Madrid granted them in each edition year after year. “We have a new action against science. The Ministry of Education has decided to completely cancel the tiny subsidy that covered part of the organizational expenses,” protests Agustín Senderos, member of the coordinating commission of the Madrid Geological Olympiad.
This is what they communicated to those responsible for the organization of these events in November: “From the General Subdirectorate of Innovation and Teacher Training Programs, we inform you that as of now it is no longer possible to continue with financial aid to associations for the organization of the Olympics. We ask you to take this circumstance into account when planning future editions. We regret the inconvenience and we appreciate the work you have been doing in the development of these activities.”
While the Community of Madrid promotes the , in which it proposes that retirees and university students without a degree can teach this subject in educational centers to alleviate the structural deficit of teachers, it cancels the financing it granted to an initiative that promotes the learning of this subject. The regional Executive does not explain the reason for this decision. “The Ministry of Education has already informed these associations that it is studying different formulas to continue supporting their participation in this event,” they respond to this newspaper.
But Senderos claims not to have received this communication. Nor has the message reached the president of the Commission of the Spanish Mathematical Olympiad, María Gaspar. Ángel S. Sanz, coordinator of the local phase of the Madrid Physics Olympiad and professor at the Complutense University, has been informed. “They told me because I took the initiative to ask, but they have not offered me any guarantee, everything is up in the air. I have written to them twice since then to see what is happening and they have not answered me,” he explains with the intention of clarifying that at the moment there is no financing, when there are less than three months left for the local edition.
Being left without this regional aid means losing coverage of the costs of tickets belonging to those classified for the national competition. The 110 best physics students from across the country will meet to compete in Zaragoza in 2026. “I refuse to let their families have to pay for them, we have to get help no matter what. In these events,” Sanz insists.
Gaspar has the same problem. The contestants in their specialty had their travel paid for to the championship among Spanish students. But in the 2026 competition, which this time will take place in the Community of Madrid, he will be in charge of supporting the contestants with food and accommodation for three days. Last year it took place in Gijón.
Senderos explains that the regional Executive granted its entity more than 2,000 euros each course, which the team used to finance the resources necessary to carry out the tests. “Management involves an expense that, due to the very nature of the organizing societies, is difficult to assume without external support,” he expresses in reference to the preparation of fundamental materials for students to work on the various topics, both theoretical and practical: laboratory products, detailed maps, diagrams, graphs, high-definition photographs or stereographic pairs.
At the moment, participants in the local geology competition, which will take place in February, are already being told that they must bring their food from home, since the organization must prioritize its financial efforts in the Olympic events. “The transfer of students is also difficult, as is the purchase of awards,” says Senderos. This competition at the national level, in March, and the international one, in Italy, in August.
The Olympics, in general, consist of three phases. The local one, in which students from Compulsory Secondary Education and Baccalaureate centers at the provincial or regional level appear. The winners of each of them go on to the national one, which is held in one of the country’s venues. Finally, the winners of this phase go to the international competition to face the champions of more than thirty countries from all continents.
The mathematical competition has been held since 1964. Soon the specialties of physics and chemistry were joined. Already in this century, the areas of biology and geology were added, the latter in 2010. Then economics and computer science joined in. Philosophy joins the next Olympiad for the first time. The management of these events is carried out by societies, non-profit entities or teachers. One is the Spanish Association for the Teaching of Earth Sciences, which seeks to dignify geology given that .
This time he had to ask for help from the College of Geologists and the non-profit organization Geology, Society and Development. “Let’s see if we can scratch something,” says Senderos. Of all the phases of the competition, the local one is the most important for him. “It is where participation is the majority, where hundreds of students demonstrate their interest in science. Therefore, the suppression of regional support for the Madrid Olympics, the seed of future researchers at the national level, is especially serious,” he insists.
Scientific quarry
He considers it essential to take care of: “The Olympics show us that there is an adolescence that thinks, that is involved in knowledge. But we have the Community of Madrid against science.” Gaspar clarifies that he works in the competition altruistically, like the rest of his colleagues, who correct tests and assist the contestants. “Our greatest reward is seeing how they become researchers over time,” he says.
Regarding the performance of the Community of Madrid, he remains optimistic: “I want to believe that this collaboration is not going to end, I trust that everything will be resolved, we have a long history of good understanding. Whatever happens, we will continue working for better educational quality.” The Olympics are a strategic investment in talent, vocation and excellence, in the opinion of María Victoria Otero, president of the .
Invites public administrations not to turn their backs on these events. Remember that for decades these competitions have promoted the discovery and early training of brilliant young people throughout Spain: “Many of the mathematicians who stand out today in academia, business or innovation fell in love with our discipline as teenagers through this experience.”
