Excellence, respect and friendship. Courage, determination, inspiration and equality. The Olympic and Paralympic values are forming part of the day-to-day curriculum of hundreds of pupils in Rio’s municipal schools. This is the conclusion reached following the School Video Festival, organised by the Education department of the Rio 2016 Organising Committee. The initiative formed part of a series of actions conducted in partnership with Rio’s schools, such as a training programme for 'young agents' – pupils responsible for disseminating the Olympic and Paralympic values both in and out of the classroom.

'Young agents' promote the Olympic and Paralympic values to their classmates (Foto: Fabrizia Granatieri)

Themed around the ‘1,000 Days to the Games’ celebrations, the event featured 11 schools. With a camera and a lot of creativity, they each produced a video showing the activities organised to commemorate the date. The screenplay included everything from the Olympic torch relay to exciting choreography for the opening ceremony. (Check out the productions)

“The purpose of the School Video Festival was to foster important concepts among pupils such as teamwork and happiness through work. The programme’s activities stimulate the youngsters’ autonomy and creativity. With this in mind, we have already trained a group of young agents this year, who are responsible for mobilising the schools and leading new initiatives,” explained Mariana Behr, Rio 2016’s Head of Education.

The videos were published on our website and those with the greatest number of viewings were awarded prizes. Ubaldina Dias Jacaré municipal school took first place, followed by Guimarães Rosa and Souza Carneiro. The awards ceremony took place on Wednesday (18 December) at the Rio 2016 headquarters, in Cidade Nova, Rio de Janeiro.

“When I found out that the school had come in first place it was like winning an Olympic medal! The school has been working hard on the Olympic and Paralympic values this year. We took some courses with the Rio 2016 Committee, learnt a lot of new things and talked to other professionals during the events. All of this helped us to pass these concepts onto our students, which in reality they were already practicing without realising. Now they are aware that certain attitudes signify respect or equality, for example. These are simple ideas, but they have a big impact on their daily lives,” said Patrícia Maia, physical education teacher at Ubaldina Dias Jacaré Municipal School.

Promoting the Olympic and Paralympic values among young people is a key aim of Rio 2016 (Foto: Fabrizia Granatieri)

In 2013, the committee worked in partnership with 15 public schools in Rio. Each school had a team of approximately 10 young agents, as well as a teacher responsible for monitoring the group throughout the year. Rio 2016 offers training, tutoring and support materials for three types of activity: living the Olympic and Paralympic values, sports practice and engagement with the Games. For 2014, further partnerships are planned with schools from the public education network.

“The Games have already begun for the schools on the programme. There is already an atmosphere of mobilization and transformation in the schools’ everyday routines,” said Mariana Behr.

“This year we have been training and creating groups that we consider to be strategic in the success of this schools programme, such as young agents, teaching coordinators, professors of education and field agents (teachers that visit schools and guide activities). We have also promoted meetings with athletes and ex-athletes, workshops to try out new sports, events to celebrate milestones in the preparations for the Games and a range of creative activities to encourage active understanding of the Olympic and Paralympic values," she added.