MBOMBELA – Today is World Maths Day. Do not expect fireworks and huge celebrations in Mpumalanga or even in South Africa.

The latest World Economic Forum (WEF) global competitiveness index for 2015/16 placed South Africa’s quality of maths and science at higher education and training level, last out of 140 countries.

For the second year in a row the country’s overall quality of education is ranked 138th out of 140 countries in the world, behind Egypt and Paraguay.

Meanwhile Sadtu and the Department of Basic Education are at loggerheads about the manner in which the annual national assessment (ANA) are being conducted. ANA is administered by the department on an annual basis, to assess the level of performance of learners in two key areas of the school curriculum, numeracy and literacy.

World Maths Day was launched in March 2007 with the aim of using education and the Internet to unite school students around the globe and to set a world record by answering more than 10 million maths-related questions in 48 hours.