Children learn to use the abacus at a training centre in Bhubaneswar. Picture by Sanjib Mukherjee

Bhubaneswar, Aug. 2: She may be just 10-years-old, but Rini can correctly add up 10-digit numbers in just a few seconds. Eight-year-old Nikhil can complete up to fifty math sums in five minutes flat.

These children haven’t picked up this amazing speed in mental arithmetic at school. It’s at abacus training classes that these children have picked up these skills.

Parents and guardians in the city are making a beeline for the various institutes that train children in the ancient method of calculation.

Some experts, however, believe that parents are putting too much pressure on their children in an attempt to turn them into tiny math geniuses.

The beaded frames of abacus have been a part of nursery classes for years. The abacus has been used to teach children counting the easy way. It was only in 2002, however, that exclusive centres came up to train children, mostly in the age group of four to 12 years, in the simple and efficient techniques to make speedy mathematical operations like addition, subtraction and multiplication.

“Abacus helps remove the number phobia pre-dominant among children. After a few months of training, students don’t need an actual abacus anymore. They can now visualise one and perform fast calculations mentally,” says Sanjukta Sarangi, principal of the Universal Concept of Mathematical Arithmetic System (UCMAS) abacus centre in Palaspalli.

Parents seem to agree that training in abacus makes their children comfortable with arithmetic. “I had heard from my friends who sent their children to the training centre that this system really helps build confidence and mental ability in children. I believe that my son’s Math skills have improved. His concentration too has improved within these two years of abacus training,” says Shanti Panda, a housewife.

“I enjoy solving sums using the abacus method. It helps me solve sums involving huge numbers easily,” says Nikhil, a Class IV student.

There are more than 30 centres for abacus training in Bhubaneswar, including those at UCMAS that follows the Malaysian pattern of abacus training and the International Concept of Mental Arithmetic System that uses the Japanese method. Thousands of children in the city from both Oriya and English medium schools are now being trained at these centres.

“We conduct classes on weekends in four batches and have more than 300 students,” says Sarangi. While the abacus classes are believed to complement children’s studies, a few experts feel otherwise.

“Trying to push children to perform extraordinarily well is unwise on the part of parents. At such a young age, the child should be given the freedom to pick up studies at a pace suitable to him,” believes Dr Sashikanta Mishra, child specialist at Capital Hospital. “What is the point of making 10-year-olds calculate sums involving 10-digit numbers in seconds? At least until they are five, children should not be forced to learn,” he adds.