Class VI student Srijoni Das of Loreto Convent, Entally, was weak in maths. She feared the subject and hence her school performance was getting affected.
Everything changed when she started learning Abacus. Her confidence and speed in calculation improved so did her class rank. "I came first last term, and I want to take up maths in future," said the student, who is now on Level VI in Abacus.
There were many like Srijoni as more than 3,000 students between six and 14 years gathered at Netaji Indoor Stadium on April 30 to take part in the state-level SIP Prodigy 2023, held in association with TTIS and ABP Ananda. The meet saw students from 125 SIP Abacus Learning Centres testing their calculation skills in different batches.
The competition was a first for many, the last one having taken place in 2019. Dressed in orange T-shirts, the students were tested on their abacus, visual calculation and multiplication and division skills, depending on their level. The exam duration for Level IV and above was 11 minutes, within which time the children had to solve a maximum of 180 sums. Before the test, the students also did some "brain gym" exercises to focus.
"I was nervous initially, especially seeing the huge turnout. But the exam turned out to be fun," said Ayush Dey, a Class V student of Garden High School.
MLA Debasish Kumar was the guest of honour. "I was here in 2019, too. The pandemic had to put the competition on hold. This is a great mental challenge for the students," he said.
Also present was SIP Academy managing director Dinesh Victor, who asked the students to complete the whole programme, and not drop out midway, to enjoy the whole experience. Some will win, others not. But the urge to win should be there in all," he told the students. He added how the competition tests a child's concentration power, confidence, intelligence, speed and accuracy in maths calculation.
There were many prizes and every participating student was given a medal.
"Children are the future and they need to be empowered with all the skills necessary for a globalised world," said Shubhajit Mullick, regional head (east), SIP Abacus.
Some of the participating schools were South Point School, South City International, St Paul's School, Darjeeling, Don Bosco Park Circus, St Joseph's School and North Point-Darjeeling.