March 20, 2014
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Soroban Competition offers Primary Level opportunity to visit Japan
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The final round of the 4th Tonga Soroban Competition for Primary Students of the Kingdom of Tonga was held on Thursday, March 20th 2014 at the Queen Salote Memorial Hall. Hon. Dr. 'Ana Maui Taufe'ulungaki, Minister for Education and Training along with Mr. Masao Fujii, Director General of the International Soroban Diffusion Foundation, ISDF, from Japan attended the event. Also present was His Excellency Dr. Kazuchika Hamuro, the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to the Kingdom of Tonga.
H.E. Dr. Hamuro in his address congratulated the students for their brave challenge of their mathematic skills publicly. "It gives me great pleasure to see that over the years, more and more students are becoming increasingly interested and involved in Soroban and that a lot of students have competed today to demonstrate their achievements. It is my sincere hope that Soroban competitions will continue here in Tonga for many years to come," said the Ambassador Dr. Hamuro.
Qualified to the final round are the top three students in each category (written, oral, and flash) of class 4 and class 5 in the regional competitions last year (Tongatapu East, Tongatapu West, Tongatapu Central, 'Eua, Vava'u and Ha'apai). The highlight of the competition is the fully funded trip to Japan awarded to the winner of the Class 5 written category. This year's winner was awarded to Semisi Finau from Neiafu. Semisi Finau will participate in the Annual Soroban Camp in Oze, Gunma prefecture in Japan from 17th to 20th August.
Soroban education has been one of the concrete and long-standing foundations between Japan and Tonga since the 1970's. It is now a compulsory element of the Mathematics subject from Class 3 to Class 5 in all Government Primary Schools in the Kingdom of Tonga. Recognitions of soroban education in Tonga include the presentation of the decoration of the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Rays in 2010 to Mrs. Una Tupou, in honor of her contribution to soroban education; the donation of 3286 soroban in 2009, by ISDF under JICA's program called the "Smile for All in the World," and the 901 soroban donated by the Okinawa Employer's Association of Japan in 2013 to the Ministry of Education and Training. Moreover, the ongoing dispatching of JICA volunteers to support soroban education throughout the Kingdom of Tonga.
Tonga's Soroban Competition is one of the collaborated events hosted by the Embassy of Japan and the Ministry of Education and Training.
