Over 50 years of the International Mathematical Olympiad, 288 Vietnamese students have won 271 medals.

The International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO) has been held in Romania since 1959. Vietnam began participating in 1974 and has sent teams 48 times with 288 contestants, including 18 women.

To date, Vietnam has won 271 medals at the IMO (including 69 gold medals, 117 silver medals, and 85 bronze medals), with a medal-winning rate of 94%. Ten outstanding students achieved perfect scores, and ten students won two gold medals.

Professor Ngo Bao Chau is one of only 10 Vietnamese students to date who have won two Gold Medals (at the IMO 1988 and IMO 1989). He is currently the Scientific Director of the Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics and a professor at the University of Chicago, USA. He is the first and only Vietnamese person to date to have won the Fields Prize.

Speaking at the event, Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son said that the Ministry of Education and Training always emphasizes the role of mathematics from secondary school to university and postgraduate training, and in research; especially in the current stage of scientific and technological development.

To maintain and improve the achievements of the Vietnamese mathematics team, as well as to promote mathematics teaching and learning, increase interest in and improve the effectiveness of mathematics education, Deputy Minister Hoang Minh Son believes that better mathematics teaching and learning in high schools and better mathematics research at universities are necessary. The goal is to ensure that mathematics not only occupies a larger portion of the curriculum but also that mathematics teaching and learning becomes more engaging for students.

Professor Ngo Bao Chau shared his delight at the achievements made, especially the unity and solidarity among the Vietnamese mathematics community both domestically and internationally. He also expressed his pleasure at the government 's attention and the fact that mathematics remains one of the favorite subjects among young people. However, Professor Ngo Bao Chau also expressed his concerns about how to make the movement to learn mathematics more sustainable and widespread, as well as how to make mathematics and other basic subjects a voluntary choice for young people.

According to Professor Ngo Bao Chau, in the age of information explosion and artificial intelligence, the teaching and learning of mathematics needs to return to fundamental principles instead of cramming a lot of new knowledge. Only then will mathematics in particular, and basic subjects in general, become a voluntary choice for young people.

"We're talking a lot about training human resources for artificial intelligence and semiconductors – mastering these technologies. But how can we master them if the time allocated to mathematics and perhaps many other basic subjects is cut, both at the high school and university levels? In this age of information explosion and artificial intelligence, I believe we need to avoid cramming more new knowledge, and instead return to the fundamentals, to the basic principles of reasoning and thinking," said Professor Chau.

He also argued that if a country has between 1,000 and 10,000 students who are very good at mathematics, the future of science and technology in that country will be different within the next 20 years.