Summary
Participants showcased their abacus and mental arithmetic skills in multiple rounds, the problems were based on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division
The huge auditorium of Netaji Indoor Stadium was filled with students, aged between six and 14 years. They sat at individual desks and started with some brain gym. But this was not a session on mental exercises.
All these students had signed up for the SIP Abacus Mental Arithmetic Competition — SIP Prodigy West Bengal, 2024, conducted by the SIP Abacus (Eastern India) and SIP Academy India on August 4.
Over 3,500 participants took part in the competition, which was held in two batches.
Participants showcased their abacus and mental arithmetic skills in multiple rounds, the problems were based on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.
The competition aimed to hone the mathematical skills, memory and concentration power of students.
"Earlier, I did not like maths. But thanks to the abacus I have started growing fond of it," said Maitri Paul, a student of Class IV, Gokhale Memorial Girls' School, after excitedly taking part in the event.
She is not the only child who has had a change of heart.
"What started as a simple activity quickly became a transformative experience for me. Before learning abacus, maths was just another subject for me, but now I genuinely enjoy solving its problems. Abacus taught me to approach maths with a calm mind and soon, I was solving them faster and more efficiently," said Avishi Das, a Class III student of St Francis Xavier School.
Like Aviushi, many participating children claimed that practising abacus had sharpened their math-solving speed.
Students from schools all over Calcutta had signed up for the event, including South Point High School, Delhi Public School, Newtown, G.D. Goenka Public School, Dakshineswar, The Frank Anthony Public School and Gokhale Memorial Girls’ School.
They were divided into “levels”, determined by the milestones they had achieved.
Students of Levels 1 and 2 had to solve one paper each in five minutes, using the abacus tool. They were given 80 sums on addition and subtraction.
Level 3 students had to solve two papers. They were given five minutes to solve 80 sums, using abacus and three minutes to solve them mentally (visual solving). Levels 4 onwards had to solve three papers, with the introduction of multiplication and division in the higher levels. Students were divided into 11 levels.
There were 700 winners from the 11 levels at the end of the event.
Justice (retired) Pranab Kumar Chattopadhyay was the chief guest in the first half, while Justice (retired) Asok Kumar Ganguly in the second.
"Arithmetic and mental maths are not just subjects, they help in a child’s brain development too. Thus we start with arithmetics and mental maths and not algebra and geometry. Abacus caters to every child and improves their number skills," said Shubhajit Mullick, regional head-east of SIP Abacus.
Last updated on 22 Aug 2024
