14th UCMAS National Competition climaxes at the Pentecost Convention Centre with 350 students taking home trophies. - Ghanaian Times

Hundreds of brilliant young students from across Ghana gathered at the Pentecost Convention Centre in the Central Region to participate in the 14th Universal Concept Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) National Competition.Themed "UCMAS: A Requisite Medium for Training 21st Century Students to Solve Global Challenges", the two-day event, which run from August 9 to 10, saw participants showcase their skills in mental arithmetic and problem-solving.The Universal Concept Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) is a global brain development program under the UCMAS Educational Group in Malaysia.It was introduced to Ghana in September 2007 by Maurya Education Limited, starting with just two centres in Accra.

Over the years, it has expanded to more than 150 learning centres with over 55 franchisees nationwide.UCMAS Ghana organizes an annual national competition that brings together students from various schools to test their speed, accuracy, and creativity in mental arithmetic.This year, about 140 schools participated in the competition who were expected to solve 200 questions in eights minutes on day one of the competition.

In addition, a new competition was introduced, a national league competition which ensured the students applied the UCmaths concept to solve of arithmetic questions.The winners got the chance to take home a trophy, certificates of achievement, branded school supplies, books, calculators and tablets among others as well as travel for the international competition in Georgia and Turkey for the 14th edition.In his opening remarks, Director of Maurya Education Limited, Mr.

Girish Gurbani described the Universal Concept of Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) as an essential tool for preparing young people to meet the demands of the 21st century.He underscored the importance of the competition saying that "today's world faced complex challenges including climate change, technological disruption, global inequality, pandemics, and a constantly changing job market hence these challenges demanded not just knowledge but thinking ability, innovation, resilience, and adaptability"."UCMAS nurtures cognitive flexibility, the ability to adapt, think critically, and process information efficiently.