02-05-2025
West Lothian schoolboy sums up how it feels after win at international maths competition
Tejas Mittal attends Calderwood Primary School in Livingston
A clever 10-year-old schoolboy from West Lothian has been named amongst the winners of an international mathematics competition.
The British Youth International College (BYITC) named thirteen winners of its seventh annual International Maths Olympiad competition.
Thousands of students from all over the world took part in the week-long free-to-enter challenge, which is aimed at students ranging from four years old to 14.
The first-of-its-kind 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 arithmetic skills.
Tejas Mittal, who attends Calderwood Primary School in Livingston, was the joint level 10 winner.
'Maths feels different now,' said Tejas. '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.'
Tejas' parents Mukesh and Neha Mittal added: 'Seeing my child solve math problems with confidence is amazing! BYITC's structured learning and supportive teachers have really helped in the Olympiad journey.'
Another 10-year-old Lothian schoolboy Abel Abby, 10, who attends St John Vianney RC Primary School in Edinburgh, was the joint level 11 winner.
He said: 'What helped me most was learning how to think through a problem. BYITC taught me not to rush, but to solve things the smart way. The teachers are really kind and explain things until I get it!'
His mum Abby Jose, said: 'I'm so happy with the progress my child has made through the BYITC Olympiad. The questions really helped sharpen their thinking, and the support from teachers has been excellent.'
There were a further four pupils from Scotland named among the 13 winners - Anaisha Saxena, 6, level 2 winner; Isaiah Tahir, 10, level 4 winner; Krishna Nair, 9, level 9 winner; and Vivaan Rawat, 10, joint level 11 winner. All are from Glasgow.
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.
'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.'
Glasgow-based BYITC is also now the UK's largest provider of Abacus Maths classes and creator of the world's first 100 per cent digital, game-based abacus maths learning application.
