Casio provides function calculator to students in Vietnam

Ho Chi Minh is the financial capital of Vietnam with many new major development projects and Japanese companies have been actively participating and helping in the development process.

Tran Dai Nghia High School ranks among the best schools in Ho Chi Minh City. Maths classes here are a successful example of how Japanese scientific calculators are helping in the development of the Vietnamese education system.

Scientific calculators allow students to perform calculation quickly so they have more time to focus on the concept and develop better analytic skill to solve problems.

"Rather than trying to remember and learn by heart formulas, questions and answers we can focus on definitions, analysing and improving formulas via the amazing functions of this calculator," a student said.

The first use of scientific calculator in Maths classes started in Ho Chi Minh in 1995. By 2007, an environment in which all students in Vietnam could learn maths using scientific calculators was established but it came with challenges.

"I think the two biggest challenges for teachers to let students use scientific calculators are - one on how to make students use calculators as tools rather than becoming too dependent on them, the second one is updating new calculator's features to fit the new curriculum," said Nguyen Van Phuong, a teacher.

The Ministry of Education sponsored training courses and competition for math teachers to get knowledge about using the scientific calculator so that they could share their knowledge with their students.

"With a strong advancement in digital technology, the application of digital in teaching is very powerful. Especially in education, the application of digital technology increases the effectiveness of learning and teaching. Therefore, the Ministry of Education has tried to bring digital technology introduced in all subjects as well as educational activities in general," said Nguyen Vinh Hien, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Education.

From the last 30 years, Bitex Company in Ho Chi Minh is the pioneer of spreading the use of scientific calculator in the country with Japanese manufacturer Casio.

Chairman of BITEX Group, Nguyen Xuan Dung said, "To expand the use of calculators throughout the country, we coordinated a team of professors and teachers specialized in mathematics to compose training materials. We also collaborated with MOE to organise training for teachers, firstly in provinces then throughout the country."

Through enthusiastic efforts of the education industry, the Japanese scientific calculator helps in raising the quality of education in Vietnam.