A mathematics team comprising three boys and three girls have lately performed quite well in an international competition in the field of mathematics, arguably the most coveted of the science subjects, something of poetry in the scientific sphere.

There is a national organisation for the subject and a sphere of international settings for regular math competition, which is unlikely to be heard for other subjects.

There was also an excellent gender tonality to that event as the girls were twice as successful compared to the boys – whether this was designed to be the case being beside the point.

Each boy won one medal while the girls collectively secured six medals, including multiple category wins – and this made them bag two each on average.

Indeed, there is little doubt that the results reflect a steady upward trajectory in Tanzania’s performance in international mathematics competitions, what with four medals in the 2024 Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad and another four in the last year’s edition.

The stress by event organisers was limited to that point, as to how there is visible progress and prowess by Tanzanian youngsters in mathematics and in science as a whole.

By further intuition, all should be well in the future, as math is seen as a sort of gateway to success, a measure of intelligence quotient as such, etc. Weakness in math more or less comes to mental handicap, the litmus test of a dull pupil and a bright one, before reaching upper study levels.

Whether it makes a huge difference that Tanzania has improved its ranking from 10th place in 2025 to fifth position this year, marking one of its strongest performances to date is one thing, and how far this translates into science is a different matter.

It is not easy to say what this means for the pupils and prospective students, as often it is a mind game, exercising imagination or method.

The big issue in the country isn’t how far pupils are learning or not learning, as here the comparisons are numerous and of different standards.

Rankings of local universities at the African level at times look hopeful, where one ranking agency gives the University of Dar es Salaam No. 21 in Africa and another No. 42 while the period of ranking is close to one another.

Yet in world rankings it is hard to see any of our higher learning institutions appearing in the top 1,000 positions, save perhaps for the medical academic facility attached to the main national hospital.

But there is a research outfit standing independently in Morogoro Region which has frequent ‘breaking news’ of new scientific contributions conducted in collaboration with other universities. 

The point is that our institutions inspire hope on the one hand though at times they are a source of despair.

And then the premise of these competitions, and what goes on in the minds of organisers, is difficult to ascertain.

This is as we seek global renown as well as matching standards at the level of education, while strenuously objecting to adopting the sort of economic organisation formats making science a routine matter.

There are top creative institutions in major market economies as their markets are competitive, absorbing talent, as companies compete for space, are bought and sold and thus also compete to attract capital.

This is what leads to science being recognised as companies need bright young people to lay a better framework for the future, whereas here many companies are started from scratch and can neither be bought nor sold.