00:00 I'm Esra Raya and this is the Manila Times.
00:03 Although several would claim that the Philippines is having an educational crisis, with the
00:08 learning poverty at an all-time high, Pinoy grade schoolers have proven to be some of
00:14 the best in the world when it comes to math.
00:18 Filipino math wizards bagged over a hundred medals and awards in the 11th World Mathematics
00:24 Invitational, a tournament held in South Korea last July 14-18.
00:31 Led by the Asia Math Sci League, students from the 1st to 12th grades from across the
00:36 country competed in the event and bested students from other countries.
00:42 Here with us is President of the Asia Math Sci League, Richilda Villame.
00:47 Welcome to the Manila Times, ma'am.
00:49 Filipino students got 143 awards, including Star of the World awardee Mateo Inigo Esposia,
00:58 a 6th grader who got the highest score in the country.
01:02 Aside from that, legend awardees diamond, gold, silver, and bronze awards, among others.
01:09 Ma'am, tell us about your experience in the World Mathematics Invitational.
01:15 It was quite tiring because it was fast, but at the end, we were all happy because of the
01:23 result.
01:24 So, initially, even how we secured the visa, it was quite difficult because it was quite
01:32 a number that we are going to bring out and bring to Korea.
01:36 But the experience of the children, of these kids, that was very satisfying.
01:45 Ma'am, tell us about the World Mathematics Invitational.
01:51 I understand this is not the first time that the Philippines has competed in this international
01:56 mathematical competition.
01:57 There had been previous winnings from years before, even before the pandemic, ma'am.
02:04 So is this a regular thing that you do and how is the Philippines faring in these competitions?
02:12 We used to participate in this, we call this WMI.
02:17 And the Philippines is always doing well, actually.
02:24 Like for this year, we have two legend awardees.
02:26 The legend awardees means they got gold for three consecutive years.
02:33 So we have a number already of gold awardees and comparing with some other countries.
02:41 We have a good record.
02:46 So yes, for the WMI, we first have the preliminary conducted in the country, that will be online.
02:57 And then from there, we select the finalists that will attend the tournament abroad.
03:02 Ma'am, I understand we sent 139 participants, students from different schools from across
03:12 the Philippines to be in this competition.
03:15 And in this competition, the WMI has over 1,500 students also from different countries,
03:23 Indonesia, Malaysia, Russia, Singapore, and Australia.
03:27 And I understand they don't rank by country.
03:31 So they only rank the individual students, ma'am.
03:35 So tell us more about your experience, ma'am.
03:38 How was it?
03:39 Was it difficult for our students?
03:40 Was it a piece of cake?
03:42 Were they intimidated by being faced by all of these other math wizards from other countries?
03:49 Actually, the students, when they went out of the competition room, everybody was saying
03:56 it was so difficult.
03:57 The test was so difficult.
03:59 So for a time, we were worried that our contestants may not do well because they found it difficult.
04:07 So of course, especially for the first timers, they cannot compare a world, an international
04:16 math contest to an ordinary test in the classroom.
04:20 Although they are prepared for this.
04:23 Maybe some were also surprised of how challenging the contest was.
04:31 But because they are prepared, they actually came prepared, then they did well.
04:38 So if they found it difficult, the other countries found it difficult too.
04:44 Mom, I understand the Asia Math Sci League Incorporated is the one preparing our students
04:51 for this international competition.
04:53 So how do you prepare them for this level of tournament?
04:58 Okay, for WMIS, it is the Asian Math Sci League that prepares our students.
05:04 So first, we invite students all around the country, all schools to join our training.
05:13 So this will be training for 10 meetings, 10 Saturdays, normally, three hours per meeting
05:21 for a total of 30 hours.
05:23 Now after the 10 sessions, then we rank them.
05:27 We choose the top 20% and invite them again to train for another 30 hours, 10 sessions.
05:36 And then from that second part, second part of the training is more intensive, preparing
05:43 them really for international contests like WMI.
05:50 Mom, which schools are these students from who compete internationally, right?
05:56 And they've won awards for the Philippines.
05:59 So which schools?
06:03 So I can name some schools, there are actually 16.
06:07 So from Cebu, we have Ateneo de Cebu.
06:12 We have also Ateneo in Manila, junior high school and grade school.
06:16 We have De La Salle Lipa.
06:20 We have Pasig Catholic College.
06:22 We have Grace Christian College.
06:25 We also have Genesis Christian Academy and we have public schools.
06:29 I can't help but notice that the schools that you've mentioned where our competitors came
06:36 from, some of them are from exclusive schools, privileged schools, and some of them from
06:42 public schools as well.
06:44 So talent really is everywhere for the Philippines.
06:48 May I ask, ma'am, how do you select the contestants?
06:51 So how do you reach out to them?
06:53 Or how does this go?
06:56 How do you go about this?
06:57 How do you select?
06:58 How do you find these math wizards from all over the country?
07:01 So we invite them through the heads of the schools or through the superintendents.
07:09 So we send letters to different divisions and to different private schools because normally
07:17 it is the school superintendent that give this information to the public schools and
07:24 then for the private schools, the heads of the schools.
07:27 So we send invitation for them to train, to try.
07:31 And because this is also a measure of the standard of mathematics in their respective
07:38 schools.
07:39 Mom, you know, some would even claim that the Philippines is having an educational crisis
07:46 and a learning poverty, but here you are excelling, not just here in the Philippines, but abroad.
07:53 So what can you say about the Philippines' current learning poverty, mom?
08:00 This is quite a problem, actually.
08:04 This is a very small percentage of students that are doing well.
08:09 So if you will get the percentage of those students winning internationally with all
08:16 the students of the country, that is very, very small.
08:19 So what is the organization doing?
08:21 We know that the students depends upon their teachers in their respective schools.
08:30 So what we do in the organization is we train math teachers, we train teachers, and then
08:36 we invite them to join us in training the good students so that when they go back to
08:43 their school, to their respective schools, they have improved their skill.
08:48 I used to teach teachers in the graduate school, and I realized that there are those really
08:55 teachers who are not that ready to teach mathematics in their respective schools, because there
09:02 are those schools who do not have enough math majors, like a PE teacher, for example, will
09:10 be teaching math.
09:13 These are some problems before.
09:15 And then the problems compounded because of the pandemic.
09:20 When the students stayed at home, then when they came back after two years, there was
09:28 a big lag, actually.
09:31 So yes, we are doing good, but it does not speak of the whole population of the country.
09:40 So what we are doing is we hope that we can expand by training more and more teachers.
09:47 Mom, like you said, you agree that there is actually a learning poverty in the Philippines,
09:53 and there is a gap between students who are not learning enough and those students who
09:59 are doing really, really well in international competitions and tournaments even.
10:06 And also, you mentioned that the pandemic has really left a dent on our educational
10:12 sector and has left a lot of students behind.
10:15 So aside from your organization training more teachers to teach math in their schools, respective
10:23 schools, what else do you think can we do in the education sector to bridge this gap,
10:30 to somehow solve the learning poverty, mom?
10:33 This is really a huge, huge problem, and this is really a problem of the Department of Education,
10:40 right?
10:41 So as a private organization, what we can do only is to assist the Department of Education
10:49 in the training of their teachers, because we think that the teachers play a very, very
10:58 important role in the education of the students.
11:02 No matter how good your program is, no matter how good your curriculum is, if the teacher
11:09 is not implementing it well, the students will not learn.
11:15 For those parents who would also like for their children to do well in math, so what
11:21 is your advice for those students who would love to be part of international competitions
11:26 such as where you've been?
11:28 Okay, my advice is first, know your children's interests, because let us admit it, there
11:36 are those parents who would want their children to be like this, but it is not their interest,
11:40 and therefore it will be a traumatic experience for them.
11:45 So if they notice that their children have the interest and the skill, like if their
11:51 child, for example, is so very fond of solving puzzles, then that is a hint that the child
11:58 will be interested in math and in problems.
12:01 So for the parents, I suggest you do not force your children to do math if they are not interested,
12:11 but if you see that there are skills, then find a good training program for them so that
12:18 they will be improved.
12:20 Thank you so much, Aisha MathSciLeague Inc. President, Maam Ruchilda Williami.
12:27 Thank you so much for your time, Maam.
12:28 Thank you too.
12:29 Thank you.
12:38 [End of Audio]
12:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments