Mexican filmmaker Guillermo del Toro
offered to buy 12 plane tickets so that Mexican students could travel to South Africa for the 60th International Mathematics Competition since Mexico City's Mathematics Olympiad revealed that they couldn't afford all the plane tickets . The Mexican filmmaker will also pay for the plane tickets to Bath, England, where another group of Mexican students will compete at a Mathematics Olympiad .
After the message went viral, thousands of social media users praised and thanked the filmmaker for his kindness.
The offer came after Mexico City's Mathematics Olympiad created a Change.org petition to raise funds for the plane tickets.
On Saturday, Grupo Modelo , a beer company , announced they would also support the Mexican students on their quest to South Africa by offering to pay for their accommodation in the African country.
The Mexican beer company caused a positive response among social media users , who vowed to keep buying their products.
On the other hand, people have been criticizing the Mexican government for the lack of support for talented youngsters .
On May 16, a teacher complained to President López Obrador , after the government eliminated the financial aid for youngsters to attend international competitions ; but the Mathematics Society is not the only organization that has been forced to suspend activities for the lack of resources , since at least a dozen scientific organizations have experienced the same issue.
During the brief discussion, the teachers said that “ Conacyt took away the aid for our children to be able to leave the country and represent Mexico .” The President denied the lack of resources and said he would investigate the case.
Historically, the Conacyt used to support scientific organizations in the country through a financial aid program but when the new Conacyt director took office, the aid was eliminated.
On January 28, the Mexican Academy of Science suspended its operations because it didn't have enough resources after the Conacyt suspended the financial aid.
Nevertheless, after much criticism, the Conacyt backtracked and announced that it would grant financial aid for six more months or less.
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