Saturday, May 28, 2005

RP kids place second in int’l math contest

By Jonathan M. Hicap, MT Reporter

Tagbilaran City, Bohol: Elementary-school pupils from Metro Manila copped second place even as Chinese pupils dominated two international math contests here.

The elementary-school team from Hong Kong took first place in the overall category in the 2005 Philippine Elementary Mathematics Contest, and three teams from China made their presence felt in the individual category of the Asian Inter-Cities Teenagers Mathematics Olympiad.

The team from Metro Manila landed second in the elementary-school level Pemic and a team from Sofia, Bulgaria, took third place.

Hong Kong District members Barry Wo Bar Wai, Jing Hoi Lo, Pak Wah Chan and Man Chit Ning were also individual gold medalists.

The Metro Manila team’s Aileen Chua won an individual gold medal; her teammates Vance Uy, Carmela Lao and Dann Julius Tan took home silvers.

In the high-school level Aitmo, Chinese teams from Changchun, Quanzhou and Ningbo City showed their intelligence by landing in first, second and third places.

The Changchun team is composed of Du Yao, Zhao Yibo, Cheng Chen and Yang Yuhang.

In the team contest, the group from Kowloon District Team in Hong Kong, Cebu City and Kaohsiung-Pingtung in Taiwan got first places.

The Pemic and Aitmo, held from May 23 to 28 here, was organized by the Mathematics Trainers’ Guild of the Philippines in cooperation with the Depart­ment of Science and Technology’s Science Education Institute and the Department of Education.

Simon Chua, president of the guild, said these international math competitions give Filipino children the opportunity to become creative and analytic.

Science and Technology Undersecretary Fortunato de la Peña, the guest speaker, said the contests have “also been successful in creating the much-needed venue for mathematics educators to exchange ideas and discuss trends and issues of relevance to professionals in their particular field.”

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