South African Stiaan Scheepers taking bronze at the Junior Mental Calculation World Championships in Germany. Picture: Supplied
Whizz-kid Stiaan Scheepers was awarded the bronze medal when he was placed third in the 2022 Junior Mental Calculation World Championships held in Bielefeld in Germany recently.
Described as ‘one of the best human calculators in the world’ – and not for the first time either - Scheepers is a product of the education franchise A+Students with which he enrolled when he was just three-years-old.
Now at 13-years-old, Scheepers has chalked up multiple achievements including runner-up at the 2018 and 2019 World Cups, as well as taking seventh and 10th places in previous World Cups including the Champion of Champion awards in international abacus’ mental arithmetic competitions.
No stranger to travelling abroad to compete, Scheepers not only whizzed his way to third position in the competition but picked up the ‘Best Friend Award’ for his popularity and being a true ambassador for South Africa.
Attracting over 50 competitors from around the world, youngsters came from countries including Algeria, Germany, India, South Africa, Switzerland, Bulgaria, Lebanon, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia - some for their first time while others have been attending for many years.
In addition to competing to find the World Mental Calculation Champ of the year, the aim of the event is to share knowledge and methods with the participants who compete in categories ranging from under 12-years to under 20-years.
The competition is a two-hour written exam, where participants must not write down anything except the answers.
All that abaci calculation must be done mentally within strict time frames.
“They may have spoken many languages there but had no problem in communicating during the competition, as maths is a universal language. This year’s competition was certainly fierce as the top three spots only differed in 43 points each out of 2200 total, so Stiaan’s third place achievement was his personal best record of 2110 points and that was astounding,” Marlene Mouton Ras, founder of A+Students said.
Joining in congratulating Scheepers and Ras of A+Students was the CEO and board of the Franchise Association of South Africa (FASA) where A+Students is a member in the Education, Training and Childcare category of franchising.
“The Education category in franchising makes up 14% of the franchise pie and is a crucial sector in the development of future generations who will steer the economic growth of our country,” Fred Makgato, the CEO of FASA said.
With the past three years going down in history as the most disruptive years in living memory and with approximately 1,4 billion children worldwide moving from the classroom to online education, the challenges not only to traditional schools, teachers and learners but also to those franchise businesses in the childcare, education and training sector, have been momentous.
“Education franchises were the first to respond to the Covid crisis, adapting their curricula to fill the gaps that lockdown was causing. It continues to be one of the most progressive franchise sectors, both in its business offerings and in its service in education,” he added.
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