THE BEAM25 Grand Final (Northern Region), one of the major competitions organised by Penang Math Platform (PMP) under the GEMS initiative, concluded successfully on Saturday (Oct 11) at the FutureTech Academy (formerly Penang Skills Development Centre).
This year’s BEAM25 brought together students from across the region to showcase their exceptional talents in Mathematics, Bahasa Melayu and English.
PMP general manager Johnny Ong said the competition attracted over 11000 participants from 2,700 schools nationwide, ranging from Year 1 to Year 6, who competed in a series of challenges designed to test their mathematical and linguistic skills.
“Out of the total participants, 463 students, or roughly 4.3%, qualified for the Grand Final, after winning in the online qualifying round on Sept 6,” Ong said.
He added that the competition, now in its 3rd year, aims to promote arithmetic proficiency, critical thinking, and language mastery in both Bahasa Melayu and English, reflecting the importance of a well-rounded education.
The event was officially launched by Deputy Chief Minister II Jagdeep Singh Deo, who is also the Penang STEM chairman.
For teachers and parents, BEAM serves as a valuable platform that provides insights into students’ performance in mathematics and languages. It helps parents better understand their children’s academic strengths and areas for improvement, fostering collaboration between educators, students, and families.
Jagdeep said the success of this year’s competition demonstrates the growing interest in interdisciplinary learning, where students are encouraged to excel in both maths and languages.
“We are on the right track in educating our future generation on the importance of English and mathematics to succeed in a highly industrialised state like Penang,” Jagdeep said.
SJKC Chong Cheng (Bayan Lepas), SJKC Kwang Hwa (Bayan Lepas) and SJKC Su Lai (Sibu) emerged as the top three schools with the highest number of finalists, each receiving RM1,500.
There were six category champions across Year 1 to Year 6, while a total of 60 top-five winners took home cash prizes amounting to RM10,000.
