A SIX-YEAR-OLD Basingstoke boy is one of the 12 winners of the International Maths Olympiad competition organised by British Youth International College (BYITC).

Out of the thousands of students from around the world, Parin Vaghani has won the level 2 prize in the Abacus Maths competition.

The six-year-old’s parents are thrilled their son has been recognised for his mental arithmetic skills.

“We are so proud of Parin as he works very hard and is thriving in his maths. He loved the competition and can’t wait for the next one,” his parents said.

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Parin, who attends Kempshott Infant School, was one of seven English-based winners with the remaining from Scotland and Northern Ireland. 

First launched in February 2022, the most recent Maths Olympiad in October coincided with National Maths Week Scotland and marked the third iteration of the innovative competition organised exclusively for BYITC Supermaths students across the world. 

The first-of-its-kind challenge is based on the school’s pioneering Abacus Maths instruction.

There were 50 questions in total and results were based on accuracy and time. The questions were set keeping in mind the complexities and advanced levels of each category.

Students used concepts like finger, abacus, and mental theory.

The top performers across each of the 10 levels of BYITC Supermaths training were awarded certificates and prizes for their impressive arithmetic skills.

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BYITC’s founder Dr Rashmi Mantri said: “The National Abacus Maths Challenge continues to be a success and the students love to compete in it each year. It was created to identify, assess and celebrate students who show extraordinary Abacus Maths skills.

“Everyone, and especially children, learn best when their imagination, as well as their logical thinking skills, are fully engaged on a problem or challenge. Add to that a fun element of competition and you begin to see youngsters making great progress in their performances.

“A principal aim of BYITC is to uncover the huge asset of untutored talent and ability which we know exists in every community and to channel it towards extraordinary performance in numeracy. As such, the BYITC Abacus Maths Challenge is a real game changer.”