Ten-year-old boy wins maths prize
HCM CITY — A fifth-grade student from HCM City has developed software on math study for first-grade students.
Nguyen Khanh Anh Hoang, 10, a student at the Nguyen Dinh Chinh Primary School in Phu Nhuan District, won one of five top prizes for his software "I Love Studying Math" at a national competition for young information technology (IT) students, held recently in Da Nang.
"Like other participants, I’ve gained new experience and learned new things," Hoang said. "This year, pupils in the first grade are studying a new and more difficult programme created by MoET. Many of them are frightened of maths. I created software to help my younger peers enjoy the subject," Hoang said.
The contest, organised by the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET), attracted 158 students from 50 cities and provinces across the country. The Centre for Science, Technology and Young Talent Development, under the Youth Union, also sponsored the Ninth National Contest for Software Creation, which gives students a chance to exchange ideas about the IT field.
Hoang and six members of a HCM City group were selected from 70 excellent programmers from schools around the city. The HCM City Communist Youth Union’s Young Talent Assistance Fund and the Viet Nam Informatic Centre funded the students’ trip to Da Nang.
Hoang studies IT at the Viet Nam Informatics Centre, where he refined his software programme by using colourful and amusing images. After the competition, he showed the software to first-grade students and teachers at his school and received a warm response.
"Hoang’s software attracted the attention of the judges and participants at the Da Nang competition. They were surprised at the talent of such a young boy," said Tran Anh Khoi, director of the Viet Nam Informatic Centre.
Four other boys, aged between 12 and 17, won third place and consolation prizes.
Khoi said HCM City is a centre of economy, culture and technology, and city officials need to take steps to improve IT education.
He said the city’s Department of Education and Training should work more closely with other offices and organisations to provide better IT training at schools, particularly in secondary and high schools.
"My centre plans to help some schools upgrade IT education. We will offer IT training programmes given by our specialists," he said. — VNS
