A SCOTTISH college is expanding into the Maldives in Southeast Asia following the success of its pioneering game-based maths learning programme for children in Sri Lanka.
The Glasgow-based headquarters of British Youth International College (BYITC), has run a franchise in Sri Lanka, an island nation in the Indian Ocean, for three months and is now expanding this to the Maldives, a group of islands in the Indian Ocean about 750 miles away from Sri Lanka, or about two hours by plane.
The move is being led by Jude Xavier, BYITC’s franchisee in Sri Lanka.
BYITC specialises in teaching maths using a counting tool that has been used for millennia – the abacus – and Mr Xavier has been impressed with the results.
“I really like the way game-based learning has helped our children improve their maths calculation and visualise solutions faster than a calculator.” Mr Xavier said.
“Our students have improved their mental arithmetic skills so much that they’re known as ‘Maths Mavericks’ when they go back to their regular schools.”
Thought to have been first used by the Babylonians, an ancient Middle Eastern civilization, as early as 2,400 BC, the abacus is known to be highly effective at training the brain to make mathematical calculations involving huge numbers.
Dr Rashmi Mantri, who founded BYITC in 2015 after using an abacus to teach her son basic arithmetic, said: “The abacus is an ancient calculation tool that isn’t used much today. But it teaches students to do big calculations mentally without the use of any calculator or paper.”
BYITC delivers online abacus maths programmes and has developed the world’s first games-based abacus maths application.
Its brightly coloured graphics and characters are inspired by digital games and designed to engage children in the learning process.
Dr Mantri said she was proud of the positive impact BYITC’s programme was having on Mr Xavier’s students.
“We are thrilled to continue our partnership with Mr Xavier and to work towards our shared goal of providing quality education to children across the globe and making fun-tastic maths learning,” Dr Mantri said.
The Maldives business will become the 11th franchise territory which operates globally – including Dubai and UK – and teaches online courses in English, programming and cyber security as well as maths.
Mr Xavier operates his franchise in Kandy, a city in the Central Highlands of Sri Lanka, and plans to expand his offer to include English and Coding courses, alongside Abacus Maths.
“I’ve noticed tangible changes in our children’s performance,” he said.
“With our game-based abacus learning program, I’ve observed greater enthusiasm and engagement among our students, and I’m excited to be expanding this opportunity to young people in the Maldives.”
Mr Xavier is the founder and chief executive of Anka Corporation, a group of businesses based in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and incorporating commodity trading, shipping and technology solutions for hospitality, education and renewable energy.
