For years, mathematics has been taught to many children as a subject of abstract numbers, formulas and procedures, something to be memorised and reproduced on paper.

But the abacus is offering a different way of seeing mathematics, as young learners in Rwanda use its beads to grasp mathematical concepts. Instead of simply writing numbers on a board and asking children to calculate, the abacus allows them to touch, move and visualise numbers, gradually turning physical movements into mental calculations.

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Education experts say this approach could help address a persistent challenge in mathematics learning: helping children move beyond simply getting the right answer to understanding how and why mathematical concepts work.

They said this as Rwanda seeks to strengthen foundational learning, particularly in the early years of primary education.

The Rwanda Basic Education Board (REB), in partnership with Shenmo Education Rwanda, has introduced an abacus programme targeting learners in Primary One to Three. The programme trains children to perform addition, subtraction, multiplication and division by first manipulating beads and eventually visualising them mentally.

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Herine Otieno, a mathematics educationist and founder and Technical Director of EduHubAfric, says introducing the abacus in lower primary schools is a positive move, but its impact will depend largely on how teachers use it.

"The abacus is very concrete; it&039;s tangible," Otieno said. "One of the things learners struggle with is that when you write numbers on the board, it can be very abstract. But when you give them an opportunity to touch and manipulate the beads, they can see and visualise the mathematical process. Over time, they master the same concepts."

On August 25, the programme culminated in the National Abacus Mental Math Competition at Lycée de Kigali, bringing together 250 learners aged five to nine from 17 schools. The participants had been selected from a five-week summer programme that reached 720 children nationwide.

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For some children, the experience has already changed how they perceive mathematics. Moses Ishimwe Nyiringabo, a nine-year-old pupil at GS Kimironko, said the method had helped him overcome his fear of calculations.

"The abacus exposed me to mental calculation, and I am now happy and ready to learn, unlike before when I struggled to do simple calculations," Nyiringabo said. "It helps me calculate very fast. It has also helped me overcome my fear of mathematics and enjoy the subject."

Making mathematics visible

Otieno says the strength of the abacus lies not simply in making children calculate faster, but in giving them a physical and visual representation of mathematical concepts.

"It helps create that opportunity to make mathematics concrete and visual. It can even help form mental mathematics in their heads, because we always say that the more senses you use in learning, the more enhanced the learning outcomes can be," she said.

A child using the abacus is not only looking at numbers; they are seeing, touching and moving objects while thinking through a problem. That combination, Otieno argues, increases engagement and deepens understanding.

Brigitte Uwitonze, Principal of Shenmo Education Rwanda, said the transition from physical manipulation to mental calculation is at the heart of the programme.

"Children use the physical abacus tool to visualise the image of the abacus and then try to do mental calculations using that image. The programme helps boost confidence, improve concentration and focus, and plays a great role in overall cognitive development," Uwitonze said.

Beyond counting

For Otieno, the bigger opportunity is not simply to produce children who can count or calculate quickly. She argues that mathematics education needs to move beyond counting and procedures towards helping children recognise patterns, relationships and connections.

"Mathematics is not about counting. It goes beyond procedures. It is about patterns, making connections and seeing relationships," she said.

The abacus can give teachers a practical tool for introducing these ideas. Instead of teaching five simply as a number to memorise, a teacher can help a learner see that five is made up of different parts, physically moving beads to observe how numbers relate to one another.

"If I want five, I can move three beads and two beads. Eventually, they are able to see those relationships," Otieno said.

"If I can see that seven is 5+2, it is also easy to see that if I remove two, five remains. It becomes easier to transition from addition to subtraction," she said.

The implication, she says, is that children can begin to understand mathematics as a connected system rather than a collection of unrelated calculations.

From beads to mental mathematics

The arrangement of beads can also help learners understand place value. Rather than simply telling children that a number has ones, tens and hundreds, the tool lets them physically see how numbers are positioned and represented. Over time, the physical tool becomes less necessary as learners develop a mental image of it.

Uwitonze says this is the progression the programme seeks to achieve. As children&039;s skills improve, they gradually move from manipulating physical beads to performing calculations in their minds.

The method has roots in traditional Chinese arithmetic, where the abacus was widely used before modern calculators.

The teacher remains central

Placide Umurame, a teacher from GS Rwamagana, said the abacus is good for learners but teachers need training on how to best use it.

"You could call it a form of mental fitness. If your brain is healthy, it helps you perform any task, think fast and act wisely. Teachers need more training on how to use it if it is to be a success," he said.

While the abacus may provide a new tool for mathematics education, Otieno cautions that the tool itself will not transform learning. The quality of implementation, she says, depends on whether teachers are trained to use it as more than a counting device.

"If teachers are trained properly, they can use it to transition from teaching key operations as procedures to what we call in mathematics education a whole-part approach, which enables students to see relationships," she said.

A teacher could use an abacus simply to make children faster at counting, missing the opportunity to build deeper mathematical thinking.

"Part of that training should help teachers see mathematics not just as counting and procedures, because that will determine how they use the abacus," she said.

Her concern is significant in the context of Rwanda's efforts to improve learning outcomes. While mathematics performance has shown progress, assessments have also highlighted challenges among learners when questions require deeper thinking rather than straightforward recall or calculation.

"If we help teachers understand that mathematics is a discipline made up of patterns, relationships and connections, then we can use the abacus to enhance thinking and confidence," she said.

Building confidence early

REB Director General Nelson Mbarushimana said the abacus programme was introduced to strengthen numeracy and literacy among children in the early years of primary education.

"We wanted to use holidays to run the summer camp and train young children in lower primary. These should be trained in numeracy and literacy," Mbarushimana said.

"Research has revealed that if a child completes lower primary without basic numeracy knowledge, it becomes hard for them to progress in upper primary and in life in general, because mathematics is the foundation for learning other subjects and helps children find solutions to everyday problems."

He said children who fail to master basic operations early may develop a fear of the subject.

"Mathematics is the foundation of learning and is key to everyday life. Whatever we do involves mathematics, and we need to entice our children to love it. We need engineers, pilots and experts in different fields, and this starts here," he said.

REB has incorporated the abacus method into the school curriculum in partnership with Shenmo Education Rwanda, with plans to extend the programme to more schools. The national competition also gave organisers a chance to recognise learners' efforts, including those from public schools.