OWEN Couchman (9) will represent South Africa in the 15th PAMA (Pan Pacific Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Association) Global Abacus and Mental Arithmetic Competition. The competition takes place in San Francisco, USA on 29 December.
Couchman, who is currently a Grade 3 student at Kloof Junior Primary School, took part in the National PAMA Competition hosted in May this year in Johannesburg.
During the national competition, he performed exceptionally well, taking on a paper graded higher in difficulty than he was meant to attempt.
Following his stellar performance, Couchman was chosen as one of the pupils to represent South Africa internationally in the CMATHS South African team.
Previously, Couchman took part in regional PAMA competitions and qualified for the international PAMA competition last year. The international competition was meant to be held in South Africa, but was unfortunately cancelled.
Couchman said, “I can add, multiply and divide fifteen sums in a short time with my abacus.” Most impressively, he can calculate twenty sums within a minute.
He enrolled in the CMATHS programme when he was five and the improvement to his maths has been notable.
Couchman’s mother, Ingrid Couchman, said, “CMATHS should be taught at all schools because it is brilliant. The system helps children to understand concepts much more quickly.”
In school, his high level of performance has led to him being awarded a certificate of merit and the maths award for his grade last year.
He wants to be a scientist as he loves science programmes, books and everything to do with the subject. His passion for maths should serve him well when heading to San Francisco. South Africa’s CMATHS team will be competing against 14 other countries in the international competition.
