London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Sep 18, 2025

Rishi Sunak's Plan To Make Maths Compulsory In UK Schools Has An Indian Inclination

Rishi Sunak's Plan To Make Maths Compulsory In UK Schools Has An Indian Inclination

At present, students studying in UK Schools have the option to drop math at the age of 16.
UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday said an "anti-maths mindset" is holding the economy back, as he announced a review of the subject in the country. Mr Sunak will hold a meeting today to ensure that students till the age of 18 get some kind of math education at schools, without an A-Level in the subject compulsory. He also suggested people should not make jokes about being bad at maths in order to change attitudes to numeracy.

At present, students studying in UK Schools have the option to drop math at the age of 16. However, the British PM wants to change that. In his first policy speech of 2023, Mr Sunak talked about wanting to make the study of maths compulsory for all students up to the age of 18.

"We're one of the few countries not to require our children to study some form of maths up to the age of 18. Right now, just half of all 16-19-year-olds study any maths at all," Mr Sunak said in his first speech of 2023. "In a world where data is everywhere and statistics underpin every job, letting our children out into that world without those skills, is letting our children down. So we need to go further," the Indian-origin prime minister added.

Indian connection

Notably, Mr Sunak's attempt to emphasize the study of mathematics in Britain is being linked to his Indian heritage. The British PM is of Indian origin and needless to say, there is a lot of emphasis on the study of mathematics in India.

Students in the country study maths compulsorily from class 1st to class 10th and it is stereotypically perceived that Indian students are better at maths than those in Western nations. India also has a legacy of extraordinary mathematicians and scholars with immense knowledge and contribution to the field of mathematics.

Not just in India, other Asian nations also have a fetish for maths while ignoring other subjects. A majority of Indian parents ensure that their children study all subjects well but the performance in mathematics is always non-negotiable and emphasised.

Parents and teachers often equate being good in school with being good at maths. They also believe that being successful in that one subject will become synonymous with success in life and earning a livelihood.

Many also called the UK PM's decision as ''the Indian parent in Rishi Sunak talking.'' Talking to NDTV when Mr Sunak first announced the move back in January, an Indian-origin parent in the UK said, ''I relate to this because I feel some of the basic skills include Math. Everyone should have this skill, even though they do art on anything else. I am not surprised it came from Sunak. He relates to India where we do a lot of Math.''

According to a release from 10 Downing Street, around eight million adults in Britain have the numeracy skills of primary school children. Many young people feel high anxiety about maths and even a strong dislike towards the subject. This lack of maths skills has been estimated to cost the UK £20 billion per year.
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Massive Strikes in France Pressure Macron and New PM on Austerity Proposals
Trump Seeks Supreme Court Permission to Remove Fed Governor Lisa Cook
Hillary Clinton’s Reckless Rhetoric Fuels Division After Charlie Kirk’s Assassination
NASDAQ Rises to Record as Intel Soars More Than 20%, Nvidia Gains 3%
Nvidia’s $5 Billion Bet on Intel Reshapes AI Hardware Landscape
Trump and Starmer Clash Over UK Recognition of Palestinian State Amid State Visit
Trump’s Quip on Biden and Google Lawsuit Revives Debate Over Antitrust Legacy
Macron and his wife to provide 'scientific photographic evidence' that she is a real woman
US Tech Giants Pledge Billions to UK AI Infrastructure Following Starmer's Call
Saudi Arabia cracks down on music ‘lounges’ after conservative backlash
DeepMind and OpenAI Achieve Gold at ‘Coding Olympics’ in AI Milestone
SEC Allows Public Companies to Block Investors from Class-Action Lawsuits
Saudi Arabia Signs ‘Strategic Mutual Defence’ Pact with Pakistan, Marking First Arab State to Gain Indirect Access to Nuclear Strike Capabilities in the Region
Federal Reserve Cuts Rates by Quarter Point and Signals More to Come
Effective and Impressive Generation Z Protest: Images from the Riots in Nepal
European manufacturers against ban on polluting cars: "The industry may collapse"
Sam Altman sells the 'Wedding Estate' in Hawaii for 49 million dollars
Trump: Cancel quarterly company reports and settle for reporting once every six months
Turkish car manufacturer Togg Enters German Market with 5-Star Electric Sedan and SUV to Challenge European EV Brands
US Launches New Pilot Program to Accelerate eVTOL Air Taxi Deployment
Christian Brueckner Released from German Prison after Serving Unrelated Sentence
World’s Longest Direct Flight China Eastern to Launch 29-Hour Shanghai–Buenos Aires Direct Flight via Auckland in December
New OpenAI Study Finds Majority of ChatGPT Use Is Personal, Not Professional
Hong Kong Industry Group Calls for HK$20 Billion Support Fund to Ease Property Market Stress
Joe Biden’s Post-Presidency Speaking Fees Face Weak Demand amid Corporate Reluctance
Charlie Kirk's murder will break the left's hateful cancel tactics
Kash Patel erupts at ‘buffoon’ Sen. Adam Schiff over Russiagate: ‘You are the biggest fraud’
Homeland Security says Emmy speech ‘fanning the flames of hatred’ after Einbinder’s ‘F— ICE’ remark
Charlie Kirk’s Alleged Assassin Tyler Robinson Faces Death Penalty as Charges Formally Announced
Actor, director, environmentalist Robert Redford dies at 89
The conservative right spreads westward: a huge achievement for 'Alternative for Germany' in local elections
JD Vance Says There Is “No Unity” with Those Who Celebrate Charlie Kirk’s Killing, and he is right!
Trump sues the 'New York Times' for an astronomical sum of 15 billion dollars
Florida Hospital Welcomes Its Largest-Ever Baby: Annan, Nearly Fourteen Pounds at Birth
U.S. and Britain Poised to Finalize Over $10 Billion in High-Tech, Nuclear and Defense Deals During Trump State Visit
China Finds Nvidia Violated Antitrust Laws in Mellanox Deal, Deepens Trade Tensions with US
US Air Force Begins Modifications on Qatar-Donated Jet Amid Plans to Use It as Air Force One
Pope Leo Warns of Societal Crisis Over Mega-CEO Pay, Citing Tesla’s Proposed Trillion-Dollar Package
Poland Green-Lights NATO Deployment in Response to Major Russian Drone Incursion
Elon Musk Retakes Lead as World’s Richest After Brief Ellison Surge
U.S. and China Agree on Framework to Shift TikTok to American Ownership
London Daily Podcast: London Massive Pro Democracy Rally, Musk Support, UK Economic Data and Premier League Results Mark Eventful Weekend
This Week in AI: Meta’s Superintelligence Push, xAI’s Ten Billion-Dollar Raise, Genesis AI’s Robotics Ambitions, Microsoft Restructuring, Amazon’s Million-Robot Milestone, and Google’s AlphaGenome Update
Le Pen Tightens the Pressure on Macron as France Edges Toward Political Breakdown
Musk calls for new UK government at huge pro-democracy rally in London, but Britons have been brainwashed to obey instead of fighting for their human rights
Elon Musk responds to post calling for the murder of Erika Kirk, widow of Charlie Kirk: 'Either we fight back or they will kill us'
Czech Republic signs €1.34 billion contract for Leopard 2A8 main battle tanks with delivery from 2028
USA: Office Depot Employees Refused to Print Poster in Memory of Charlie Kirk – and Were Fired
Proposed U.S. Bill Would Allow Civil Suits Against Judges Who Release Repeat Violent Offenders
Penske Media Sues Google Over “AI Overviews,” Claiming It Uses Journalism Without Consent and Destroys Traffic
×