Thousands of high school pupils across the country are expected to take part in the annual South African Mathematics Olympiad (Samo) series.
The first round is scheduled to take place on Thursday 13 March. Pupils are urged to enter as registration for this prestigious competition closes on Friday 7 February.
Samo is the biggest olympiad in South Africa and has been an annual event since 1966. It is organised by the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF), an organisation that was established as an initiative of the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (Amesa) and the South African Mathematical Society (Sams).
Sponsored by Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited and the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (Saica) the Olympiad takes place over three rounds and consists of a junior division for Grades 8 and 9, and a senior division for Grades 10 to 12. The first round of the Olympiad, which consists of 20 questions with multiple-choice answers, is written at the individual schools and marked by the teachers.
“Taking part in the Olympiad is not only for the gifted pupils,” says Prof Johann Engelbrecht, Executive Director at
SAMF.
“Last year more than 80 000 pupils from over 1 000 high schools in South Africa took part in the first round. The
important objective with the Olympiad is that everybody should participate; finding winners comes as a bonus.
“We at the Maths Foundation, and our sponsors, use the Olympiad as a vehicle to identify the most talented pupils in the
country,” continues Engelbrecht. “Time and again these pupils receive bursaries for their tertiary studies and often are employed by their sponsors upon completion of their studies.”
Chantyl Mulder, Senior Executive: Transformation and Growth at Saica says that simply taking part in the Olympiad is already a great achievement. “It challenges you and shows your willingness to learn.”
According to Engelbrecht there are numerous reasons why teachers should enter their pupils in this Olympiad. Pupils will be exposed to problems that will test and improve their critical thinking skills, schools will benefit from pupils’ participation in that they will get a better quality of product, Grade 12 pupils in particular will benefit because the questions are similar to those used by universities as part of their entry-level testing.
Pupils who obtain 50 per cent or more for the first-round paper will advance to the second round that will take place on 13 May. The top 100 pupils per division will then continue to the third and final round on 10 September. The results of the final round are taken into consideration to select the South African teams for the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) as well as the Pan African Mathematics Olympiad (PAMO) next year.
The entry fee for the Olympiad is R23 per pupils but schools that enter more than 100 pupils can do so at only R17 per
pupil.
The entry form can be downloaded from the SAMF website (https://www.samf.ac.za/examquestions/samoentryform2014.pdf). Alternatively teachers can contact the SAMF by dialling 012 392 9362 or by sending an e-mail to info@samf.ac.za.
