JIMCOBSA

The International Mathematics Competition/Contest (IMC) for primary school and junior secondary school learners (not to be confused with the IMC for undergraduate students) started in 1998 and has now been hosted annually in its current form (high school and primary school contests together as one event), since 2010. Previous hosts include Taiwan, China, South Korea, Bulgaria, Thailand and India. South Africa hosted in 2009 and 2019. A comprehensive list can be found on our IMC Host Countries page. More information on the IMC can also be found at the official IMC website.

Until 2018, the South African teams consisted of provincial teams – KwaZulu-Natal (organised by Ms. Kitty Phillips), Western Cape (organised by Elkanah House), Free State / Northern Cape (organised by Dr. Elsie Schoombie and Dr. Anelize van Biljon) and sometimes teams from Gauteng or Eastern Cape. In 2019 two nationally selected teams (organized by Ms. Kitty Phillips and Phil Labuschagne) were entered for both the primary school and junior secondary school divisions, as well as a few provincial teams.

At the start of 2021, organisers from these areas started working together from the beginning to select and train national teams. For this purpose, JIMCOBSA (Junior International Mathematics Competition Organising Body for SA) a Non-Profit Organisation (NPO) was established to handle the administration associated with this process. JIMCOBSA continued past the 2021 IMC with the aim of organizing, selecting and training the future national teams for IMC.