Each year, thousands of learners in Grades 4 to 7 from Primary Schools across the country participate in the South African Mathematics Challenge. Co-ordinated by the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) as well as the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) and sponsored by Sasol, the Challenge saw more than 71 000 learners participating in the first round which took place earlier this year.
The Challenge, which originated in 1977 as a project of AMESA, aims to improve problem solving skills in young learners thus preparing them for High School and tertiary education as well as equipping them with important life skills.
Pam Mudhray, Group Community Affairs Manager at Sasol said that the importance of Mathematics education on primary school level is frequently overlooked and this Challenge addresses the gap that often exists between Grade 7 and 8.
“Improving school-based education is one of Sasol’s key community development objectives and through supporting this Challenge we want to encourage children and communities as whole to explore mathematics. There are many myths and beliefs that maths is “hard” and through initiatives such as these we hope to create a love for the subject as children learn through competition and fun.”
Learners’ achievements are acknowledged by awarding Gold, Silver and Bronze certificates based on their results. This year a total of 3 662 certificates were issued of which 550 where Gold, 1 741 Silver and 1 371 Bronze. The City of Tshwane had the highest number of certificates issued followed by Cape Town and East London.
Prof Johann Engelbrecht, Executive Director at the SAMF is delighted with the number of female participants in the Challenge. “Historically, mathematics and science is seen as a male activity. Boys also generally tend to be more competitive than girls and although boys and girls show the same average performance in mathematics the variation in performance is more widely scattered in the male population. In the first round of the Challenge 32 199 participants were girls compared to the 31 277 boys that competed.”
Another notable statistic is that 29 599 of the learners who participated in the first round were African followed by 21 492 Caucasian and 7 463 Coloured with the balance Asian.
“We at SAMF are pleased with the increased participation of African learners in Primary Schools and believe that this statistic will soon be prevalent in participation in other Olympiads at senior level such as the South African Mathematics Olympiad (SAMO) for Grades 8 to 12,” said Engelbrecht.
Participating in the Challenge ultimately prepare the learners for the SAMO and other High School Olympiads such as the Pan African Mathematical Olympiad (PAMO) as well as the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO), the latter which will be hosted in Cape Town during July 2014. It is the first time this prestigious Olympiad will be taking place on the continent since its inception in 1956.
