Koketso Ramorola and Didintle Malebane are two maths geniuses from Zandspruit, who is gearing up to represent SA at the PAMA Global Abacus Mental Arithmetic Competition in San Fransisco, in December.
The grade 3 pupils from Masakhane-Tswelopele Primary School have been using an abacus since they were in Grade R when they were in the CMATHS programme, before moving on to the Master level this year.
Ramorola says she loves any sum that requires the multiplication method, whereas Malebane says her favourite is division sums.
“We are very excited to be going overseas. We like everything about numbers and usually do them with ease and without a calculator,” they both said shyly.
School principal, Thato Lebethe said it gave her great pleasure to have the pupils at Masakhane Primary school and that they excel in every sphere of the curriculum.
“Be it English, maths and life skills, they produce great results and perform diligently in class. We are so proud that our pupils can compete confidently with other pupils from more affluent schools. Like Nelson Mandela said, education is a weapon to fight poverty. Not only have they made their school proud but their community.”
Lebethe said informal settlement such as Zandspruit needed more pupils that would rise against the odds and be the best that they could be.
