Talented West Lothian schoolboy wins top maths competition in 'worldwide Olympics'
A gifted West Lothian boy has won a maths competition after beating thousands of intelligent children across the world.
Tejas Mittal, a pupil at Calderwood Primary School, was the joint level 10 winner of The British Youth International Colleges International Maths Olympiad challenge.
Out of thousands of students across the world who took part in this brain picking challenge, Tejas came out on top.
Parents Mukesh and Neha Mittal have watched their son grow more confident of his maths abilities over the years and are 'extremely proud' of him.
Tejas is one of two Edinburgh winners - the other being Abel Abby, who attends St John Vianney RC Primary School.
The challenge is based on BYITC's pioneering Abacus Maths programme, with 50 questions in total and results based on accuracy and timely completion.
Students used concepts like finger, Abacus, and Mental theory. The top performers across each of eleven levels of BYITC Supermaths training were awarded certificates and trophies for their impressive skills.
Tejas dad, Mukesh said: "He has always been very keen towards maths and enjoys working on mental equations - his ability has always impressed us.
"Whenever we do shopping or research - he will always give us a quick answer and sometimes quicker than using the calculator.
"When we are at the supermarket, he can calculate the total amount before I have finished scanning.
"Maths is his favourite subject and I have always received lots of good feedback from his teachers. They are also very impressed with his skills.
"It was a very happy moment for us all. We are so, so proud of him."
Tejas said: 'Maths feels different now. I actually enjoy solving things, and I can see how much I've improved since I started Supermaths.
"The games are my favourite way to learn and practice maths. I wish we had this at school too."
BYITC's Founder, Dr Rashmi Mantri, said: 'Congratulations to each of the winners. Every child who took part deserves enormous credit as we can tell they gave it their best shot and worked very hard.
'Young people are naturally competitive and derive lots of fun from playing and experimenting with numbers. Competitions like this prepare them for higher levels of assessments and exams as they go through their educational journey as they worked on time management and enhance their problem-solving skills.
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'As we know from research, such high-level game playing significantly boosts logical thinking skills, an excellent preparation from a future which is going to be dominated by AI.
'Since we launched the Challenge, we have had more than 75 winners which is a great achievement. The success of our Olympiads and the sheer scale of entries from across the globe are very satisfying and give us confidence that there is a huge hunger out there for learning more about, and getting lots of fun from playing with, numbers.'
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