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Number crunching youngsters of Bahrain have made their schools proud of the volumes of sums they have added up correctly this week.
At the first-ever online Middle East Schools Maths Challenge conducted through the 'mathletics' website, the British School of Bahrain (BSB) was ranked first in the kingdom and eighth among top 20 participating schools in the region.
Overjoyed at her students' achievements, Saphira Isa, 27, head of mathematics for key stage 2 at the British School of Bahrain, said: "It was nail-biting stuff as the figures were changing constantly. Mathletics brings out the competitive spirit among children and the children took it onboard and I am so proud that they did."
The Abdul Rahman Kanoo International School (Kanoo School), Salmabad, came ninth and St Christopher's school, Saar and Isa Town, at 17.
Further accolades went to Khalifa Salah al bin Jassim (12), Grade 6 student of Kanoo School, who was ranked fifth among the top 100 students in the region; Hussain Diwani (10), Year 5, of Dilmun School, Adliya, was ranked 41 and George Bloxome, (11) Year 6, of BSB was ranked 52.
In all, 62,872 students from 2,066 classes took part in the competition. They were at all levels with the youngest being five and represented classes from Year 1 to Year 13. Together, they answered a whopping 45,395,117 questions correctly.
The young challengers were from 343 schools in Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, UAE and Yemen.
The challenge encouraged students of participating schools to solve as many questions as possible over a specified period of time.
They could enter the contest at any time of the day and compete against another student of the same level who was logged in at the same time. The student who got the maximum correct answers in 60 seconds would earn a point for himself and his school.
Miss Isa added: "At the end I feel like I have run a marathon that has lasted me five days. Staff members were really supportive and encouraging their children to get on with the competition even if they are not maths teachers.
"It was just brilliant. I didn't realise how infectious it could be. The children were screaming and trying to get as ahead as possible. It was nail-biting stuff as the figures were changing constantly."
The students of BSB were introduced to Mathletics in February this year and teachers use it to enhance the mathematics curriculum.
As a primary school teacher for the last six-years, Miss Isa said that its benefits include a friendly, competitive format that enables children to challenge themselves and others. She said: "It can be used for a child who is as young as five and is more like a computer game and a fun way to do maths homework. It also enables parents and teachers to monitor progress, identify strengths and weaknesses and spot areas that need special attention."
