Hon Speaker, the ANC views World Maths Day as an important day - a day to celebrate international numbers when children try to set a record in answering arithmetic questions. They participate at home and at schools against other students around the world in live games of mental arithmetic.
World Maths Day was launched in March 2007, and uses the Internet to unite school students around the globe and to set a world record by answering more than 10 million mathematics-related questions in 48 hours.
South Africa's poor scores in international assessments of numeracy prompted the ANC to launch the Foundations for Learning campaign a year ago, with a call to schools to focus on reading, writing and calculating.
This internationally acclaimed competition was hosted this year on 3 March by Johannesburg - a world-class city with an African soul. We were very exited to host this event, especially since this is such a big year for South Africa.
The World Maths Day competition endorses the importance of quality mathematics education. Encouraging learners to enjoy mathematics is vital, and this competition offers a wonderful opportunity to do just that. This is in line with the ANC's commitment to improving the quality of schooling, particularly performance in mathematics, science, technology and language development. The ANC congratulates our three World Maths Day ambassadors: Romeo M from Pridwin Preparatory School, Daniel H from St Stithians Boys' Preparatory School, and Lun S from Midstream College Primary School. They are 11, 12 and 13 ... [Time expired.]