Pangai Government Primary School has scooped the overall prize in the Soroban Competition for primary schools in Ha’apai, Tonga.
A total of 191 soroban students from six Government Primary Schools competed with each other in the three judging categories; written examination, oral examination, and flash examination.
Faleloa Government Primary School came in second place and Fotua Government Primary School came in third.
Top students in the written examination from Ha’apai will travel to Nuku’alofa to compete in the National Soroban Competition in March next year.
Sesilia Vaha’i of Pangai Government Primary School won the written examination for class 3 while Seionala Launoa won the written examination for class 4.
Taina Palu of Faleloa Government Primary School won the written examination for class 5
The competition was held a week ago.
Soroban education was introduced in the 1970’s to schools in the Kingdom, and it has remained as one of the foundation of the long-standing and strong ties between Japan and Tonga.
Tonga’s Ministry of Education and Training has proven that soroban contributes to strengthening the mathematical skills of primary students, hence the incorporation of soroban education as a compulsory element in the mathematics subjects from Class 3 to Class 5, for all Government Primary Schools throughout the Kingdom.
The Class 5 written category winner from the National Competition will be invited to join the Soroban Summer Camp in Japan, hosted by Japan International Soroban Diffusion Foundation.
The 2017 Soroban Competition will now move to Vava’u on August 7 and the competition for the three districts of Tongatapu will be on the 15, 17 and 24 of August.
The soroban competition for ‘Eua will be in September 7th.
Photo by Government of Tonga. Caption: Students at the Soroban Competition in Ha'apai