Beads for your brain

Concentrating hard: Engrossed with the abacus. Photo: Special Arrangement

Abacus has the power to stimulate your brain and thereby enhance your academic and creative endeavours.

The capabilities of the human brain are almost magical. However, studies have proved that hardly anyone makes use of even 10 per cent of its amazing faculties.

What does it take to increase this percentage and unlock the door to the miraculous powers of our brain? Research shows that giving proper exercise at the right time to our brain can create wonders in enhancing its prospects and potential.

Mental enhancement

Education experts and researchers in this area say that abacus is a wonderful device, which can help to achieve this task.

Abacus, in simple terms, is a calculating device to be used manually with movable beads on thin bars, fixed on a rectangular frame. Its size, colour and materials can be varied according to convenience. But when it comes to its use, abacus is known across the world as a ‘brain development device'.

According to Saji Tomy, an abacus trainer in Kozhikode and Kannur for the last nine years, its possibilities are incredible. “It not only helps to increase listening skill, concentration, memory power, speed and accuracy of young children but also enhances confidence and triggers the faculty of creativity and imagination in young students,” she says.

Abacus training is in no way a burden on children. “Rather its fun and quite enjoyable,” vouches Ms. Saji. She says many parents have told her that the kids find spending time with the abacus more enjoyable than watching cartoon programmes on TV.

To achieve a desirable result, a child needs a daily practice of minimum 15 minutes after regular classes of two hours. The training, according to her, activates the dormant cells in the brain helping to increase the brain power and thereby making all subjects, especially mathematics easy for them to learn. “We can see noticeable change in students by the time they finish level three of their training,” says, another abacus trainer in the city.

Starting early

According to experts, the age between five and 15 years is the most suitable time to learn to use the abacus as this will be the time when the brain will be most pliable to adapt to changes. “As children are made to use both the hands while using the abacus, both sides of the brain get stimulated and prepared to be active,” says Ms. Saji, who has trained more than 1000 students in Kerala over a period of several years. “I have seen abacus working wonders in young children,” she says.

However, for a better result, the parents of students also need to be given a basic understanding about the abacus, feel trainers. “They (parents) need to be personally convinced and aware of the astonishing changes this training can bring to their kids,” says Ms. Saji. According to her, abacus is a widely accepted tool among education experts in developed countries such Japan and China. “Our people are yet to understand the magic abacus can work in young ones,” she says.