Education experts on how abacus could change the way children learn maths

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.