THE Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA) has pledged to full sponsorship to secondary school pupils who have won four bronze medals at the Pan African Mathematics Olympiads (PAMO) 2024 held recently at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa.

Dr Jabiri Bakari, TCRA director general, made the pledge when speaking to journalists in Dar es Salaam yesterday.

He said that the authority was determined to build Tanzania that is highly enabled by digital systems which prompted it to enable the pupils to participate in the continental competition by paying for their return air tickets. 

Tanzania emerged as third best winner out of 27 countries, scooping four bronze medals at the competition which was held from 13th to 20th August 2024.

 Dr Bakari stated that the sponsorship was part of TCRA’s efforts to stimulate the growth of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) studies which are vital in building a society that is highly competent in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills. 

He said the authority will be footing all academic charges for the pupils who participated in the competition who continue with their secondary studies.

The PAMO 2024 competition was partly organized by the Mathematical Association of Tanzania (MAT) based at the University of Dar es Salaam and involved pupils from secondary schools in Tanzania Mainland and Zanzibar. 

Pupils who emerged winners of the four bronze medals are Ambrose George Rutashobya (Iyunga Technical Secondary School), Ilham Abdalla Awadhi (Feza, Zanzibar), Arab Said Mbwana (Lumumba Secondary School, Zanzibar) Stella Ludan Maliti (Marian Girls Secondary School) and Zakaria Mataiga Mwita (Azania Secondary School).

TCRA encourages pupils of all levels to participate in digital clubs to develop IT skills and expand their understanding of digital issues. It also provides for free resources in terms of frequency, number and national domain (Dot TZ) for designers of communication systems that bring solutions and productivity to various social challenges.

Dr. Said Sima, chairman of MAT said that for the first time Tanzania has managed to get four bronze medals after trying for many years but in vain. 

He said that the competition inspired pupils to love Mathematics “because what happened has shown us that we as mathematicians can compete with other countries and win”.