Financial institutions and corporates such as mobile companies have been called upon to participate in funding and sponsoring the coordination of the national Mathematics competitions for secondary schools at the O-Level and A-Levels.

The call was made yesterday in Dar es Salaam at a joint press conference by the Mathematical Association of Tanzania (MAT) and the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) during the announcement of the Tanzania Mathematics Olympiad (TAMO) 2024 winners.

Dr Said Sima, MAT Chairperson said that budget constraints have led to only 11 out of 31 regions to participate in the Mathematics competitions, asking stakeholders from the private sector to sponsor the competitions in order to motivate students to pursue Mathematics in this times where Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology is gaining momentum in the world.

"We thank CRDB Bank, Barrick Tanzania, and Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority for their continued support in financing the organization of the competitions. We are asking other institutions to fund this competition so that it reaches the whole country," said Dr. Sima.

He said the competition needs to have valuable and attractive prizes to convince students to pursue Mathematics.

According to him, institutions such as universities, engineering institutions, health specialists and others should be at the front line in sponsoring the competition.

The results are for the exam held in August 2024 that involved 1,159 students from 80 secondary schools who sat for the exams. Of the students, there were 621 boys (53 percent) while the girls were 528 (47 percent).

Dr Sima said last year students’ who sat for the exams were 812 from 54 secondary schools. The exams are voluntary.

Students came from 11 regions namely: Dar es Salaam, Pwani, Morogoro, Dodoma, Iringa, Mbeya, Mwanza, Singida, Arusha, Kilimanjaro, and Mjini Magharibi Zanzibar.

He said the best three winners from O'Level and another three from A' Level shall be awarded on the commemoration of the International Day of Mathematics (IDM) to be held on March 14, 2025. Other participants will be given recognition certificates.

In terms of O'Level also known as Junior Context involving Form three and Form Four, 796 students participated in the exams, 395 boys (49 percent) and 401 girls (51 percent). The winning candidates are those who scored 40 percent and above.

In this category, there are 253 students who scored 40 percent and above, which is equal to 32 percent of all participating students.

Among them, boys are 173 (68 percent) and girls are 80 (32 percent). 543 students could not score a pass mark of 40 percent.

The winners are Allan Matolo of Ilboru Secondary School Arusha, Stanley Francis of Chang'ombe Secondary School in Dar es Salaam, Fahmi Ali Kombo of Azania Secondary School and Zahri Mangaha of Ilboru Secondary who won the third place.

In terms of Form Five and Form Six, he said that 363 students did the exams.  Among them 236 are boys (65 percent) and 127 girls (35 percent).

Those who scored more than 40 percent are 135 students (37 percent) while those who scored less than 40 percent are 228 (63 percent). Among those who passed, there are 103 boys (76 percent) and 32 girls (24 percent).

"The three best winners in this category are Elia Deus of Kibaha Secondary School, Shufaa Awadh Mwanga of Feza Girls' Secondary School and Nooma Masoud of Shamsiye Boys' Secondary School," said Dr Sima.

Winners in the national competition get the chance to participate in the international competition exams which are categorized into three groups: East Africa Mathematics Olympiads (EAMO), Pan African Mathematics Olympiads (PAMO) and the International Mathematics Olympiads (IMO).