The competition brought 262 soroban students from Class 3 to Class 5 and competed with each other in the written examination, oral examination, and flash examination, from 6 Government Primary Schools. ‘Ohonua Government Primary School top the competition in ‘Eua, while Houma Government Primary School came second and Angaha Government Primary School came third. The top three students in the written examination from ‘Eua, from Classes 3 and 4 will represent ‘Eua Primary Schools next year in the National Soroban Competition held annually in March. (refer to the attachment for result of the soroban competition in ‘Eua).
The soroban education was introduced in the 1970’s in the Kingdom, and has served as one of the foundations of long-standing and strong ties between Japan and Tonga. The Ministry of Education and Training has proven that soroban contributes to strengthen the mathematical skills of primary students, and has incorporated soroban education as a compulsory element of the mathematics subjects from Class 3 to Class 5 for all Government Primary Schools. Embassy of Japan and the Ministry of Education and Training have co-hosted the Soroban Competition since 2010.
The competition in ‘Eua Island concludes the District Completion for 2016 which started from Ha’apai, before Vava’u and later for Tongatapu on the 16, 18 and 25 of August. The National Competition next year in March will joint by a group of young soroban students, visiting from Japan. The Soroban Competitions has been a success with the support from Tonga Soroban Education Association, JICA Tonga Office, and Japan International Soroban Diffusion Foundation.
