|
2008
EXAMINATION
Announcement: Institute of Mathematics and
Applications, BBSR
(Established By Government of Orissa & supported
By Dept. of Atomic Energy, Government of India)
Organizes
Sixth Rural Mathematics Talent Search Examination-2008
(For students of class VI in government/ government affiliated school in rural
areas)
From,
Prof. S. Pattanayak
Director, Institute of Mathematics and Applications
2nd Floor, Suryakiran Buildings
Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar 751007
Ph: (0674) 2542164, 2540604
To,
The Headmaster, XYZ High
School.
Dear Sir/ Madam,
Every year 6 children from India are selected for International Mathematical
Olympiad. The whole expenditure to this is borne by the Dept. of Atomic Energy
and Dept of Human Resource Development, Govt. of India, National Board of
Higher Mathematics, under Dept of Atomic Energy selects these six children.
The process of selection is through several stages. In the first stage there
is a Regional Mathematics Olympiad examination in every state. The first
thirty selected children from each state are eligible for the INMO (Indian
National Mathematics Olympiad). In all about 600 children participate in this
examination every year. From the first 30 selected children of this exam 6 are
selected for International Olympiad after a training of six weeks in Mumbai.
All the 30 children trained in Mumbai receive a monthly scholarship of Rs.
1200 for five consecutive years after their higher secondary.
The question a student has to face at the Regional /National /International
Mathematics Olympiad are not of the type encountered in the textbooks. They
are designed to test the innovativeness of children at that age. To acquaint
children with such problem; we conduct a training camp of about 150 children
that are selected through another test. But our experience has been that rural
children, who constitute the bulk of the children of that age group, rarely
participate in the process. This means we are missing out more than 90%of the
children of the age group. So to ensure participation of these children, we
planned for a Mathematics Talent search program, exclusively for rural
children. Under this program every year we conduct a test for children of
class VI attending Govt. schools in rural areas. We select about 100 children
ensuring that there are equal number of children from three culturally
distinct parts of Orissa, e.g., Western Orissa, Central Orissa, and Southern
Orissa. These children are brought to Bhubaneswar for training twice a year
for one week each time. This is continued for three consecutive years. During
the training they are taught to solve new non traditional problems and develop
independent problem solving capacity. The expenses of travel /stay /food
/reading material etc are taken care of by the National Board of Higher
Mathematics, Department of Atomic Energy, Govt. of India. It is hoped that by
this training, when the children reach class IX, they would feel confident, to
participate in Regional and National Olympiad.
In spite of the fact that there are about 6000 High Schools and 11000
elementary schools in rural Orissa alone, it is pity that only 2172 schools and
a total of 27125 children participated in our program.
We are making effort to increase the number of participation to 40000, which
we believe is not too ambitious. It requires proper circulation of information
and may be a little persuasion. We have already requested the Dept. of Mass
Education to help in this process and they have agreed. It is needless to
mention that low performance in Mathematics is the most important reason for
the large dropout after class V. We hope this would arouse an interest in
Mathematics among rural children through the demonstration effect, this effort
is likely to spur. We solicit your assistance for wide circulation. of this in
your area.
Thanking You
S. Pattanayak
Rural Mathematic Talent Search (RMTS)
Examination-2008
In Brief:
Second Phase test date: 11.1.2009, Time:
1:00 pm to 4:00 pm
-
Eligibility:
Students of class VI in Government/Government aided Schools in rural areas.
-
Fees: Rs. 5/-(SC/ST candidates are exempted).
-
Last dates for
receiving application: 1.10.2008
-
Organizer:
Institute of Mathematics and Applications
2nd Floor, Suryakiran Buildings
Sahid Nagar, Bhubaneswar-751007
Ph: (0674) 2542164,2540604
|