byitc introduction

Dr Rashmi Mantri

Director @British Youth International College

BSc (Hons), MSc (Dist), PhD Computer Science, University of the West of Scotland byitc.org, Supermaths.co.uk

Introduction

Mother Teresa was an inspiration to countless millions, and I am no different. Her lifelong devotion to working for the whole of humanity imbibed a sense of altruism in me.

I am a blessed Mother and an Entrepreneur. Most of my life I worked as an Educator, a Researcher, a Professor in various universities in UK, Software Team Lead, Software Course Content developer and a Corporate Software Trainer.

I am extremely devoted to work towards improving and investing in youth education. Like Nelson Mandela once said, “The youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow”. For a country to have a bright future, the youth have to be addressed, helped and shaped.

My Story Behind the Online Business

Education is undoubtedly my passion and I believe that the world can be changed through education.

  • My life’s journey, including my move from teaching adults to teaching children, all revolves around my son, Dhruv Maheshwari. When Dhruv was in Primary 5, I asked him to solve a simple arithmetic sum for me. It was as basic as subtracting 13 from 35. But much to my disbelief, he couldn’t solve it. I was disappointed and decided to change the way my child looked at numbers.
  • I started teaching him Maths informally using an interesting and humble tool called Abacus. The Abacus is as old as the civilization itself, yet not many use it in today’s times. Believe it or not, after learning the Abacus method, Dhruv could have calculate sums faster than a calculator!
  • Dhruv responded to the new method very well and picked up the Abacus Mental Theory in just 6 days. He is now proudly known as the “Human Calculator!”. The name was given to him by an ITV show, Little Big Shots, where he was invited to perform and display his incredibly fast calculations.
  • Post the show, we received a huge response from parents all over Scotland. Many of them came rushing in requesting me to teach their child the same method. They simply couldn’t believe that this was real!
  • Catering to my son’s request, I also organized an Open Day at his school and received an astounding response from students as well as their parents.

This was the beginning of BYITC_SuperMaths.

How to Improve Maths Skills Using Abacus?

Here is how the worlds first Abacus maths application works

Creating a Brand BYITC_Supermaths Physically and Digitally

  • Call it a coincidence or destiny, but whatever I did as a mother for my child’s academic development at first place was soon structured and compiled formally as a course to be taught to other children.
  • Dhruv always helps me with the classes and continually provides me with ideas and feedback from a student’s point of view. In fact, the name SuperMaths was also coined by him, which comes under the umbrella of British Youth International College.
  • All I wished by having this name is that we will be able to deliver quality education to the children Internationally and this dream came true eventually after we gone online.
  • We manage to build a reasonably good branding physically and digitally within a year as a result of parent’s belief on our high quality education. Word of mouth contributed to our speedy success.

Building a ‘Hit’ Business Model

Soon it became an established business model in UK mainly because

  • There was no Indian Abacus centre in Scotland that time
  • We have developed contents mostly suitable to UK children.
  • We (Dhruv and I) have done a full research of the available courses, elsewhere in the world and made the best-in-class contents.It took us a full 2 years to develop these 11 levels.Suitable contents was the key of this triumph.
  • I had to obviously leave my highly paid job to develop these contents. Basically, we worked for ourselves and helped ourselves to build on our dream. All my corporate course content development and research experience came handy here.
  • This Model could be replicated by others, and we were ready for another victory by franchising and running in the schools, that too was a instantaneous that it went to the extent which resulted in a ‘Hit’ Business Model.
  • We had 6 physical centres successfully operating across Glasgow and Edinburgh. At the same time, we had a great digital presence with the first ranking on Googleand thousands on follows on social media handles.
  • This noble cause of sharing knowledge motivates me and Dhruv to keep working together, and it is extremely rewarding to see children excelling in all-round academic skills.

Worlds first Abacus Maths Application – Gala Moments

  • As we all know Necessity brings innovations. My journey from Binary digits to Abacus digits helped me in understanding & designing the world’s first online e-learning Abacus application.
  • Even though pandemic paused the world for a few months, we decided to take the entire classes online because Quality Education cannot and should not stop. My education and professional background in computing came in handy here.
  • I’m happy to mention that due to such an exemplary Abacus web application, we have now gone global with students from as far as Australia, Dubai, India and even the USA.
  • All the classes are conducted virtually. We are in touch with certain schools as well, in plans to deploy our courses through their channels.

Steppingstone – Introducing Coding Classes

Dhruv’s interest in coding and programming started at a very young age. This is in 2016 when coding was not in trend that much. Every time he played a game, he used to pose a thousand questions – ‘How is this made? How does it work? How do the characters move on their own?’

I started teaching him coding to satisfy his curiosity. At the tender age of 10, he managed to build a game himself through all these learnings.

He went on to deliver video tutorials on YouTube on topics of Website and Game Development or Cyber Security for kids at the age of 10. Dhruv updates and maintains the YouTube channel for the British Youth IT College as well.

Here is the link to the BYITC Youtube channel

This is how we started providing computer coding classes for kids, covering various programming languages. Kids absolutely love developing their logical programming skills through our courses.

Following suit, we introduced the Computer Games Development Summer Boot Camps for kids.

This also included a much interesting Robotics and build your own PC workshops.

AgainWe were the first Centre in Glasgow (in 2016) that successfully provides such a structured, regular and weekly computer coding and Robotics class for kids of different ages, dividing the courses from Beginner to Advanced levels.

And all of this, at the comfort of your home! Online classes have proven effective, efficient, and extremely convenient for students. Not to forget, Safe!

Glasgow Harold published this at that time –

Dr Rashmi Mantri, founder of Glasgow’s British Youth IT College (BYITC) which offers after school classes in coding for 9-13-year-olds, is also blown away by the ability of many of the young people she works with. She was inspired to leave her job at the University of the West of Scotland to set up the college addressing the skills gap she saw in her son Dhruv Maheshwari’s education. Now the 12-year-old has built the company website and writes fluent code. The weekly classes and holiday clubs have been so popular that the school is launching an Edinburgh branch today. “Some of the kids are very advanced,” said Mantri. “They are making Java-based mobile apps and they are excited to be using a language used by “real” programmes. A lot of the children here have parents with an IT background who can see the importance of this for their children’s future. But for the kids it is just fun to code.”

Here is the full article in Glasgow herald

https://www.heraldscotland.com/news/16030509.coding-new-alphabet-kids-prepared/

Awards and achievements

    • Received a court Medal for passing MSc with highest marks in the University of the West of Scotland.
    • Received an exceptional Scholarship (double the Scholarship) from the University of the West of Scotland to pursue Doctorate, this “Double the Grant” was available only for one person in the university and I was chosen for this.
    • Received the start-up funding from the First port UK £2500
    • Received funding for the children’s project from the Foundation Scotland £2500

Excellence Award – Inspiring Woman Entrepreneur in Education – 2024 🏆

A heartfelt appreciation to Business Connect ✨ for orchestrating such a magnificent and noble event, and for acknowledging our dedication to the cause. Many thanks!

⭐International Women’s Month Begins with an Indian Debut⭐

Star Bollywood Celebrity 𝐀𝐦𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐚 𝐑𝐚𝐨 awarded 𝐃𝐫. 𝐑𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢 the Excellence Award – 𝐈𝐧𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐄𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 – 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 🏆 at the International Corporate Conclave in New Delhi.

Extremely honoured to be able to contribute to the undying spirit of womanhood worldwide 𝐃𝐫. 𝐑𝐚𝐬𝐡𝐦𝐢 𝐌𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐢 dedicates this award to all the educators who are the driving force of positive change in the truest sense.

SEMSA’s Grand Event: Honoring Excellence in Education and Beyond

Many thanks to SEMSA 🎩✨ for organising such a grand and noble event and recognising our effort towards the cause.

In academics, we are the game changers in the field of Abacus Maths, English, Coding & Cyber Security. We are the world’s No 1 Game Based Abacus Application and our software is compatible with Android and IOS mobiles as well.

Although 𝐁𝐘𝐈𝐓𝐂 is well-known for being the largest Mental Maths provider worldwide, we do understand that along with mental development, physical health and well-being is also equally significant for children these days.

We would love to continue with SEMSA to promote the spirit of sports among kids.

Achievement: Abacus Level Completion Ceremony in Glasgow

All Abacus level completion ceremony was held at Glasgow today and following children were awarded by honorary MSP Anas Sarwar and Labour Party Leader of Scotland.

These children have shown immense regularity during covid times and came out even stronger, sharper and brighter.

It is not easy to pass all Abacus levels with BYITC Supermaths as we give child a step by step challenge and children have to pass those level wise challenges before marking all Abacus Supermaths levels completion.

Dr. Rashmi Mantri Inspires at ‘Building the Future’ Seminar: A Journey of Achievement and Growth

We are delighted to share that our Founder, Dr. Rashmi Mantri, had the honor of being invited as a guest speaker by her alma mater for the esteemed “Building the Future” seminar! This opportunity evokes memories of her incredible journey: pursuing a master’s degree, being awarded an exceptional scholarship, and embarking on a PhD later in life (30+).

It fills us with immense pride to witness the remarkable development and growth of UWS since Dr. Mantri’s time there. The university has truly flourished.

We have included some cherished moments in the attached photos, capturing the essence of that journey.

 Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award at UK Investors Summit – 2023

Business Networking and the Awards Ceremony. With my mom and dads blessings received a Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award at UK Investors Summit 2023. Learned a lot from Industry experts and also got a chance to present BYITC Franchise Model.

Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards

 World Superheroes Award by Ladies of All Nations (LOANI) – 2022

Honouring those doing extraordinary work in their respective areas to make a change in people’s lives, the fifth annual Ladies of All Nations International (LOANI) Charity Gala Dinner and Superheroes Awards which took place in November 2022 was attended by delegates from all over the world.

Dr Rashmi Mantri, represented Scotland at the event and she was awarded with World Superheroes Award.

Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards

 Glasgow entrepreneur recognised at 100 Successful Women business awards – 2022

Dr Rashmi Mantri has been recognised for her achievements in business as the founder of the British Youth International College. Previously honoured as “Best Entrepreneur” at the Inspiring Indian Women (IIW) She Inspires 2022 awards, Rashmi has yet again been recognised for her positive impact as a business leader – this time by the 100 Successful Women in Business Network (100SWB).

Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Successful Women Business Awards

 Dr Rashmi Mantri – Best Entrepreneur Award – 2022

Dr Rashmi Mantri is awarded “ IIW She Inspires award” under “ Best Entrepreneur” category.

IIW (Inspiring India Women) is one of the most recognised organisations working with women of Indian origin. IIW organises “ IIW She Inspires Awards” every year to identify and recognise the ordinary women who are doing so much in their field but hardly recognised.

Dr Rashmi Mantri – Best Entrepreneur Award
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Best Entrepreneur Award
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Best Entrepreneur Award

 Special recognition award by LOANI UK – LOANI (Ladies of All Nations International) – 2020

Being active in a lot of social and education related initiatives and I received recognition for my work from reputed organisations LOANI a prestigious global organisation working for supporting and uplifting the underprivileged in various communities, awarded me with Special Recognition Award for my contribution towards uplifting students and females through my educational initiatives.

Dr Rashmi Mantri in LOANI Award ceremony with the Mayer or Elton, Miss UK and others

 Judge – speech competition by Scottish Indian cultural and Festival committee(SICFC)

Dr Rashmi Mantri was invited as a one of the judges for the most prestigious speech competition organised by Scottish Indian cultural and Festival committee.

Dr Rashmi Mantri – Judges Awards
Dr Rashmi Mantri – Judges1 Awards

Judge – speech competition by Scottish Indian cultural and Festival committee (SICFC)

 Chief Guest -Pushkar International Music School

Honoured to be a chief guest at Pushkar International Music School,to celebrate an Independence day @Pushkar Lake.Received certificate of appreciation and a trophy.

Chief Guest – Pushkar International Music School

 Invited to Sophia College Ajmer Rajasthan

Invited to deliver a seminar in the institution, where once in childhood, I struggled to study for various reasons related to family, distance from Pushkar, and challenges of girl child education to name a few!!VaktVakt ki baathai..

Invited to Sophia College Ajmer Rajasthan

Media Appreciation

Dr Rashmi is also guest and expert columnist and author with many leading print and digital media houses. She regularly shares her thought and opinion about education and mental development of children.

Dr Rashmi’s educational initiative and her organisation BYITC Supermaths has been covered my many top media houses for the unique initiatives.

The Scotsman

Adding up: Glasgow educational technology venture launches UK franchise model

Read Full Story

A Glasgow-headquartered educational technology
venture that operates globally has launched its franchise model in the UK.

PressReader

You can always count on the old meth­ods

Read Full Story

A CHILD who was strug­gling at school is now a maths genius after his mum taught him to use an aba­cus.
Dr Rashmi Man­tri, from Glas­gow, used the ancient tech­nique she learned in India to tutor Dhruv Mahesh­wari, 16.

Business Monday

Glasgow Woman Dr Rashmi Mantri Wins Best Entrepreneur Award At Prestigious Event Held At Houses Of Parliament

Read Full Story

Education innovator Dr Rashmi Mantri presented with business achievement honour at the Inspiring Indian Women (IIW) She Inspires awards

Outlook News

Once Halted From Education Now Spreading Education Across The Globe

Read Full Story

Dr. Rashmi Mantri is settled in Scotland, UK where she runs British Youth International College. She got a chance to enroll in MSc (Computer Science), which was a start of a new revolutionary journey with a gold medal from the University of West of Scotland.

Rashmi Mantri

Rashmi Mantri is a Scotland, UK-based computer scientist, educator, and entrepreneur

Read Full Story

She is known for creating the world’s 1st, and most versatile Game-based Abacus learning software by embedding technology in the ancient method

Scottish Financial News

Just a Minute: Dr Rashmi Mantri – founder of British Youth International College (BYITC)

Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Mantri, founder of Glasgow-based but globally operating Supermaths and British Youth International College (BYITC), participates in our Just a Minute feature.

scottish financial news

 GlasgowWorld

My son went from zero to hero because of an abacus’ – Glasgow mum teaches son to become a maths whizz using ancient technique
Read Full Story

Dhruv has now landed an apprenticeship at drinks firm Diageo and said his teachers would be shocked by his career choice after his maths struggles.

And his mum is using her abacus tutoring to teach thousands of kids around the world.

GlasgowWorld News

 Daily Business Magazine

Ancient method adds value to skills business
Read Full Story

Interview: Rashmi Mantri, education business owner When she noticed that her 10-year-old son Dhruv was struggling with simple arithmetic, Rashmi Mantri thought that lessons she learned as a young girl growing up in India might help. Little did she know that a wooden abacus and some parental assistance would turn into a global business.

Interview: Rashmi Mantri, education business owner

 WalesOnline

Mum used abacus to tutor son as he struggled with sums and now he’s a maths whizz
Read Full Story

Dhruv Maheshwari’s mum Rashmi Mantri believes the ancient technique could help many children today

A teenager who once struggled with simple sums is now a maths whizz after using an ancient learning system. Dhruv Maheshwari, 16, was struggling at school when his mum started to tutor him using an abacus. Dr Rashmi Mantri, 45, said she learned the technique while growing up in India. And after noticing Dhruv was struggling with maths in primary school year five, she started teaching him after school.

WalesOnline

 SME GUIDANCE FOR BUSINESS GROWTH

How my son’s homework led to a global education platform
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Mantri, pictured above, is a computer scientist-turned entrepreneur who has an online training business which includes courses on the abacus, English, and cyber awareness for young people. She began the business when her son was struggling with his maths and she taught him the benefits of an abacus. Here, she tells her story…

SME GUIDANCE FOR BUSINESS GROWTH

 GlasgowTimes

Glasgow boy who struggled at school becomes maths genius thanks to ancient technique
Read Full Story

A BOY who was struggling at school is now a maths genius after his mum taught him to use an ABACUS – which she says can help today’s children.

Dr Rashmi Mantri, 45, used the ancient technique she learned while growing up in India to tutor son Dhruv Maheshwari, 16, after school. She noticed Dhruv began struggling with maths in primary five and was worried he couldn’t do simple sums.

GlasgowTimes News

 BBC Radio show

Dr Rashmi Mantri appearance with Kaye Adams

BBC Radio Scotland interview in “The Kaye Adams Show”- Dr Rashmi Mantri was invited and interviewed two times on BBC Scotland Radio Show. The first show topic was “Should we ban calculator from Scottish Classrooms?”

BBC Radio show- Dr Rashmi Mantri appearance with Kaye Adams

 Daily Record

Scots mum turns son into maths whizz using ancient method used to build pyramids
Read Full Story

A boy who was struggling at school is now a maths genius after his mum taught him to use an abacus – which she says can help today’s children. Dr Rashmi Mantri, 45, used the ancient technique she learned while growing up in India to tutor son Dhruv Maheshwari, 16, after school.

Daily Record coverage

 GlasgowWorld Business

Bishopbriggs education innovator presented with business achievement honour
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Mantri from Bishopbriggs won the Best Entrepreneur award at the Inspiring Indian Women (IIW) She Inspires Awards.

The annual awards celebrate the work and achievements of women of Indian origin across the world. Rashmi is multi-business manager, IT specialist and educator with a PhD in computer science – as well as the founder of the world’s first online abacus maths learning application.


Bishopbriggs education innovator presented with business achievement honour

 News18

This Woman’s Video Teaching Her Son Math with Abacus went Viral. Now, She Runs an EdTech Company (news18.com)
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Manti’s story in India’s leading media house New18 Network-

News18 Coverage

 BBC Radio show Once Again Dr Rashmi Mantri on Kaye Adams show

The second time invitation BBC show topic was “Importance of computer coding skills over traditional inter-communication skills in the education of children”.

BBC Radio show Once Again – Dr Rashmi Mantri on Kaye Adams show

 Invitation to the STV Show

Dr Rashmi Mantri and her son Dhruv Maheshwari’s interview at STV2 Show “Live at Five” STV2 show Live at 5pm – Dr Rashmi Mantri and Dhruv Maheshwari – YouTube

Invitation to the STV Show

 ITV Show Little Big Shots

Can These Human Calculators Really Solve Any Problem? (YOUTUBE EXCLUSIVE) | Little Big Shots – YouTube –
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Mantri’s students appeared on Little Big Shots Show with Dawn French to display their amazing mathematics skills. That’s where Dawn French called children a human calculators.

 
  

ITV Show Little Big Shots

 Times of India

1. Dr Rashmi’s article on topic “Can proper Abacus training create brilliant mathematicians” was published in “Times of India” (Worlds largest English language newspaper)-
Read Full Story

 The Glasgow Hearld

Coding is the new alphabet … but are your kids prepared? | HeraldScotland (follow the link for details)
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Mantri’s story in Herald Scotland titled “ Coding is the new alphabet…but are your kids prepared?”-

 Spotify

The leading audio streaming platform, did a podcast session on Dr Rashmi Mantri on topic “Making Maths-fun through BYITC Abacus Program- In Conversation with Dr. Rashmi Mantri”

Making Maths – fun through BYITC ABACUS Program – In Conversation with Dr. Rashmi Mantri – De Zero Stories | Podcast on Spotify
Read Full Story

 Dr Rashmi’s story in The Scottish Mail

 Local Scottish Radio Channel Awaz FM

Dr Rashmi Manti and her students interview was done on Awaz FM’s popular program

“Aajkal with Manjulika”
Read Full Story

 The Pioneer

Abacus for your child’s growth (dailypioneer.com)
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi’s article on topic “Abacus for your child’s growth” was published in leading Indian daily “The Pioneer”

 Business World Education

Importance Of Teaching The Right English To Children From A Nascent Stage – BW Education(businessworld.in)
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Mantri’s expert opinion was published in leading business media platform “Business World Education” on topic “Importance of teaching the right English to children from the nascent stage.” –

 The Statesman

BYITC starts Teacher Training Programme to empower education community in India – The Statesman
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Manti’s “Teacher Training Program” an initiative to empower education community especially women educationist and teachers was highly appre – ciated and covered by prime media platforms like “The Statesman” and many more…

 The Tribune India

British accent and pronunciation training for kids : The Tribune India
Read Full Story

Dr Rashmi Mantri’s training program on “British Accent and pronunciation for Kids” was covered by leading media house “The Tribune” among many…

Social Corporate Responsibility

BYITC Inspire Awards (Young Achievers Spotlight)

Many thanks to the publications for the coverage

Sponsorship