Maranao math wizard bags gold

COTABATO CITY — Twelve-year old Mohammad Nur G. Casib, a Grade 6 pupil from war-torn Marawi City, made his fellow internally displaced Maranaos more proud after emerging as champion again in recent mathematical agility tests conducted nationwide.

Casib was named champion in the elementary level category of the prestigious Metrobank Math Challenge (MMC) held in Makati City on March 29-30, besting finalists among 403,707 competing participants from 27, 089 schools or 219 divisions across the country, MMC organizers said.

His father, Dr. Norodin Casib of Marawi City-based Amai Pakpak Medical Center, furnished Manila Bulletin a report from Mathematics Trainers’ Guild (MTG) showing his son obtaining a “perfect score” at the 2nd round of the 8th International Mathematics Assessments for Schools (IMAS) held last March in MTG centers nationwide.

Casib, a Grade 6 pupil of the Precious Child Learning Center in Marawi City, obtained the “highest possible score” in the upper primary division category of the assessment, while Steven Reyes from Saint Jude Catholic School had a similar score in the secondary level category,

earning for them gold medals, the MTG report said. He also won the lone gold medal in the global math challenge held in Zhejiang, China in 2018 making him the first Filipino champion in the annual international tilt.

Casib described the bloody Marawi siege as a “disequilibrium” in his studies.