Background

For many students from underserved communities, mathematics can become a subject defined more by difficulty and hesitation than by curiosity or confidence. This is part of a wider learning challenge in India. According to the ASER 2024 report, which assessed more than 650,000 children across over 600 districts, only 27.7% of rural children in Class 5 were able to solve a basic division problem. While this depicts an improvement from previous years, a large proportion of children continue to struggle with foundational arithmetic skills even after several years of schooling.

The challenge is not simply about whether students can perform calculations, but also about whether they have opportunities to understand and apply mathematical thinking. Mathematics is closely connected to many aspects of everyday life, from managing money and planning journeys to understanding sports statistics, measurements, patterns, and probability. Yet when learning remains largely focused on textbooks, memorisation, and getting the correct answer, students can find it difficult to recognise how mathematical concepts relate to the world around them. The ASER 2024 findings also highlight how widely learning levels can vary within the same grade, with children often progressing through school without mastering foundational skills.

Building mathematical confidence therefore requires more than simply giving students additional questions to solve. It requires opportunities to approach problems in different ways, connect concepts with familiar situations, and learn through exploration and discussion. With this in mind, PiTime is a humble initiative that has been conceptualised as an effort to make mathematics more accessible, engaging, and relevant for students who may have had fewer opportunities to build confidence in the subject.