From Amos Fofung in Buea
Cameroon’s first ever competition organised by the Universal Concept
Mental Arithmetic System, UCMAS, has held in Douala, with school children
competing in tough mental exercises aimed at increasing their calculative
skills and mental capability.
The mental calculation competition organised in Douala on December 16, at
Dewey International School of Applied Sciences, DISAS, brought together pupils
and students from various schools that have incorporated the Mental Development
Programme in their teaching and learning curriculum.
To showcase what the pupils have been able to learn within a few months
of the introduction of the programme, they participated in mental exercises,
often tough, challenging and expected to be done within a shorter time limit.
The pupils and students showcased their level of mastery in solving the
mathematical problems and, at the end, the tougher and more efficient ones
bagged home distinction prizes.
Speaking to the press after the competition, the Technical Head of UCMAS
Cameroon, Manasseh Adjin-Tettey, said UCMAS has been in existence for two
decades after it was created in Malaysia, and is used in over 70 countries
worldwide.
“What the UCMAS programme is all about is to develop the whole brain of
the child, the left and the right brain alike. Our normal academic system often
focuses on the left brain that is only responsible for reading, writing, normal
logic, words and language.
This leaves out the right brain, which is the
creative or the imaginative part of the brain.”
Manasseh Adjin-Tettey explained that they are more focused on helping
the children explore their brain capabilities to their full maximum, in order
for them to be able to solve complex issues in society. He explained that their
conception is that geniuses are made, and not merely born,as is generally
believed and has always been.
Adjin-Tettey explained that the programme is about developing the whole
brain of the children, in order to help them make maximum use of their
imaginative and creative skills. He said all these can only be realised if both
the left and right brain is used.
On how more people could gain from the programme, the Technical Head
said people can sign into the programme for it to be taught in their various
schools. “We should not think that geniuses are born naturally, geniuses are
built. The genius in the children has to be tapped out through the necessary
training,” he said.
The Vice Principal of DISAS Douala,
Henry Djam Nji, lauded the programme saying, over the years, he hasn’t
come across such an incredible programme that increases the reasoning and
calculative skills of children.
“It is something that is going to build students in a holistic manner, they
are going to be creative thinkers, they don’t think to create things that have
been created, but to create things from their imaginative skills. With their
thinking, they can create things that have never existed. Even some of us who
went to very good schools, can’t reason and think like them” Nji stated.
UCMAS is a multinational corporation revolutionising basic education in
more than 70 countries through its UCMAS brain development programme. Among the
countries currently running the programme are: USA, France, Canada, UK, Japan,
China, Cote d’Ivoire, Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa among others.
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