Liverpool student shines on global stage in BYITC’s record-breaking maths Olympiad

The British Youth International College (BYITC) has named thirteen winners of its seventh annual International Maths Olympiad competition, including a young person from Liverpool. 

Jithya Krithika Kotte, 12, who attends North Liverpool Academy, was the Level 8 winner.

She said: “Maths is no longer hard for me. With BYITC, I’ve learnt to solve things quickly and clearly, and that’s helped me in other subjects too! The teachers are so supportive, they always help if I get stuck!”

Of the thousands of students from all over the world who took part in the week-long free-to-enter challenge, which is aimed at students ranging from four to fourteen, the following were successful and received certificates and trophies:

Aanya Muppidi, 9, Leatherhead – Level 1 winner

Anaisha Saxena, 6, Glasgow – Level 2 winner

Saksham Kataria, 7, Birmingham – Level 3 winner

Isaiah Tahir, 10, Glasgow – Level 4 winner

Chinmaye Kanumuri, 8, Hemel Hempstead – Level 5 winner

Aarav Shah, 12, Birmingham – Level 6 winner

Kapishan Kadsan, 11, New Malden, London – Level 7 winner

Jithya Krithika Kotte, 12, Liverpool – Level 8 winner

Krishna Nair, 9, Glasgow – Level 9 winner

Pranav Aiyer, 10, Reading – joint Level 10 winner

Tejas Mittal, 10, Edinburgh – joint Level 10 winner

Abel Abby, 10, Edinburgh – joint Level 11 winner

Vivaan Rawat, 10, Glasgow – joint Level 11 winner

Jithya’s father Bhaskar said: “I love how BYITC focuses on understanding concepts instead of just memorizing formulas. My child now knows why math works the way it does!”

Emily Vernon, principal of North Liverpool Academy, commented: “NLA is known for the buzz around maths, with students going on to achieve in the top universities in the country. Congratulations, Jithya! If you are succeeding at this international level in Year 7, I can only imagine where the world of maths will take you in the future!”

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 the eleven levels of BYITC ‘supermaths’ training were awarded certificates and trophies for their impressive arithmetic skills.

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% digital, game-based abacus maths learning application.