449 students train to represent Phl in math olympiads

MANILA, Philippines - The Mathematics Trainers Guild (MTG)-Philippines has selected 449 students with outstanding math skills whom they will train to represent the country in international math olympiads this year.

Among the international math olympiads that the MTG Philippines have scheduled for joining this year are the Asia Math Cup in Hong Kong, the Singapore International Math Competition, the China All-Girls Math Olympiad in China, the Primary Math World Contest in Hong Kong, and the Junior Balkan Math Olympiad in Macedonia.

The selection of the country’s 2014 math olympians came after the MTG-Philippines’ successful holding of three legs of the 2014 Young Mathematicians’ In-House Intensive Training Program (YMIITP) in Dagupan City, Pangasinan; Iloilo City; and in Alfonso, Cavite and Nasugbu, Batangas late last March and early this month.

The 449 students are composed of 188 qualifiers, and 261 alternates gleaned from 1,500 students that joined the YMIITP training and then took the qualifying examinations.

The 449 qualifiers and alternates will move to the next and final phase of the training known as the 2014 Mathematical Olympiad Summer Training Program (MOSTP), a month-long training under the tutelage of the known local and international mathematicians.

The MOSTP will prepare the qualifiers and alternates for the rigors of math problems given in international math olympiads.

The 2014 MOSTP, a live-out training, is being held at Grace Christian College, Grace Village, Sto. Domingo, Quezon City from April 21 to May 22.  

Dr. Simon Chua, president of MTG-Philippines, said he was impressed with the high number of participants, as well as the increasing number of students passing the YMIITP qualifying examinations for qualifiers and alternates.

He noted that there was an increasing number of students that come from regular public schools, aside from the government science schools such as the Philippine Science High School.

There were also a big number of students from public special education (SPED) center schools also under the Department of Education (DepEd).

He said that this could be attributed to the efforts of the Department of Education (DepEd), headed by Secretary Br. Armin Luistro, to improving the quality of education in public schools.