PURE MATHS AND MORE: A child from Chennai demonstrates her skills with the abacus. Picture by Amit Datta

The packed audience of parents and kids in a New Alipore hall watched in awe as 13-year-old Sahana added up 10 rows of 10-digit numbers in 35 seconds — mentally, without using any “gadgets”.

Before that, she dazzled the gathering by doing the same with 15 rows of three-digit numbers.

That was after eight-year-old Prithviraj did mental additions of 20 rows of two-digit numbers as fast as it took someone to shout them out.

Sahana and Prithviraj are, however, not exceptional in their abilities. They are, in fact, only two of about 45,000 children across the country who are not extraordinary, but just have the right brain cells activated right. It’s all about accuracy, speed, memory, concentration, comprehension, understanding and listening — as opposed to hearing.

And the one thing that makes it all possible is imaging or pictorial skill.

Universal Concept Mental Arithmetic System (UCMAS) is a Malaysian company that has been operating in India since 1999 through 450 centres, but is only now making forays into the east. The only teaching tool is the abacus, an ancient Chinese toy that was used for mathematical calculations. But the system, stresses D.I. Sundar Raj, manager, administration, UCMAS, is not about numbers.

“Math is just the method, a side-effect of using the abacus. The aim is whole brain development by activating the right cells, to inculcate lifetime skills in the child. Apart from skills like speed and accuracy, things like handwriting and drawing talent also improve, the aptitude for chemistry formulae grows and as a result of better concentration, the interest in subjects is more and even confidence levels increase,” adds Sundar Raj.

The course, for children from four to 12 years of age, is conducted through 10 levels, over a period of 30 months. The specially-trained teachers use an abacus and flashcards with images of the Chinese tool, in the classroom.

There is an exam after each level, but all that’s required by way of homework is 15-20 minutes of abacus practice daily, preferably before study time, to gauge the degree of improvement.

In Calcutta, the course began a month ago at Jodhpur Park, with three more — at Ballygunge Place, Old Ballygunge and Block P, in New Alipore — ready to begin from May 1, involving 15 students per batch. The classes will be held for two hours a week, only on weekends, with provisions for four batches on each day.

“We encourage slow learners,” says Sundar Raj. “And we promise 100 per cent success. The kids only need to know the numbers from one to nine.”

The fact that UCMAS is on its way into the Limca Book of Records 2004 for having the “largest non-formal education system in India” might have wooed some parents. But for most rushing to sign their children up for the course, the display of skills by four youngsters from Chennai was convincing enough.