Subash Chandar
Credit: X/@elsubash
“You are doing what my maths teacher cannot do”, comment under one of the videos of New Zealand-based mathematics teacher Subash Chandar read. “Thanks a lot!” it went on to say.
Chandar, who is based in Auckland, receives a lot of such comments on his YouTube channel named ‘Infinityplusone’
Not just on the internet, Chander is winning praises from the local Kiwi press as well, who have tagged him as an internet sensation.
His lessons on the internet have made him one of the most sought-after maths teachers in the island country.
According to a report in the Indian Express, Chandar helps students with their National Certificate of Educational Achievement mathematics, New Zealand’s main secondary school qualification for students aged between 15 to 16. This exam is a Class 10 board equivalent examination in India.
Talking to the publication, Chandar says that the idea of starting video tutorials came from the students themselves.
“The students would come and ask me the exact same question six times in one day. They were all learning things when they were ready because you can’t expect all 30 kids to be ready at the same time. One day, I had six different kids come asking the same question within hours. So I told them, ‘I should have a camera above me and record this so that you can watch it whenever you want.’ The kids asked, ‘Why don’t you do it?’”
The students then told him to use YouTube as the medium because that would be easy for them to access.
He began in 2013 and word of mouth took his good work to the homes of children throughout the island nation. In 2016, Chandar got an award from the New Zealand Association of Mathematics Teachers and a couple of years later, he noticed a trend that would make him a renowned face on Youtube. His audience outside New Zealand was growing. The United States and India were the two major centres where his content was being watched now.
Talking to Indian Express, he gives the credit to the students saying that it is them who are self-motivated. “If your child is not ready to learn, nothing is going to work. When I put up these tutorials, the people who come, they come by choice,” he says.
But the highs of today did not come before the lows of the days gone by for Chandar.
His mother, also a teacher, never wanted Chandar to follow the same career path. His academic performance in college was also not as he would have liked. He completed his bachelor’s in five years instead of the usual three.
“I did a bachelor’s in Mathematics but I was horrible at it and failed so many papers. So there were many hurdles to jump through,” says Chandar.
Chandar, however, remained determined and is now a favourite of students across the world.
"You are seriously a lifesaver. Our teacher has taught us nothing this year but your videos have helped so much and I have improved soo much!! i went from getting achievers to excellences because of your videos (sic),” wrote one user.