Old Mutual dangles K27m for 2023 Mathematics Olympiad Competition

Old Mutual Malawi Limited has provided over K27 million for the 2023 Mathematics Olympiad competition organized by the Mzuzu University.

The Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad Competition gives a platform to students from various secondary schools across the country to compete in mathematics subject and be passionate about the subject.

Speaking during the presentation of the cheque in Blantyre, Old Mutual General Manager for Pension Services Company, Taonga Manda, said the sponsorship is one way of contributing to the development of the education sector in Malawi.

Manda said the company is also involved in other areas like school bursaries in order to support education sector in all areas.

“We can agree that Mathematics is key in many aspects of our daily lives, we use mathematics unknowingly and we also use them intentionally, and if you look at many carriers, depend on mathematics, like engineering, mathematicians or even ourselves as insurances we need mathematics, and we need to expose more people to this subject hence our commitment to see that there is an advancement in mathematics in our secondary school,” he said.

“Our expectation is to see more participants come through and participate and enjoy this journey, you find that it’s an exciting journey for those who has gone through it, and we want many participants to come and gone through this journey, so that they can have an opportunity to compete with others that have come the same interest in mathematics.”

Mzuzu University Dean of Faculty of Science, Technology and Innovation, Dr. Artz Luwanda, commended the gesture, saying it is contributing towards efforts to attain the pillars the institution has set for itself.

“”As an institution we are very excited, because one of our pillars in strategic plan which we launch in early October is that we need to carry outreach activities and Old Mutual is just helping us in that endeavour and we are very pleased and very excited to do it, and also we have got a lot of students at Mzuzu University that go through mathematics and we think this is a foundation for those students who might join us to do mathematics courses at Mzuzu University,” he said.

Luwanda disclosed that over 100 schools participated in the competition last year, featuring about 260 candidates. He said they expect 300 candidates to join the race this year.

“Taking note that things have gone up, we at least need to have three candidates from each school across the country including secondary as well as high schools. Mathematics is just as any other subject, the only thing is that we have exaggerated mathematics to be difficult because of the symbols that we use and it’s just a myth that people are afraid of mathematics, so candidates have to be positive with it,” he said.

One of the beneficiaries of Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad Competition, Margaret Annie Chirwa, said the platform gives students the impetus and passion to love mathematics courses at tertiary level.

“I wish to advise the 2023 participants to invest in good preparations and they should practice, when the call has gone to the schools they should register and join our elite club,” said Chirwa.

This is the 7th edition of Old Mutual Mathematics Olympiad competition since it was being re-introduced in 2015 as it has been there over some decades but there was a blockage in between the years due to other circumstances.

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