Fun and fame with numbers

“I don't think I started this to become a YouTube star.” Subash Chandar K’s unassuming demeanour is in sharp contrast to what you might expect from someone garnering the kind of success he has tasted teaching maths in New Zealand.

Thousands of Kiwi students have lately taken to YouTube to attend the 41-year-old’s live streaming tutorials on NCEA Level 1 and 2 mathematics, and NCEA Level 3 Calculus.

With at least 38,100 subscribers and more than 1,000 videos, his YouTube channel ‘Infinity Plus One’ has become a valuable resource for learners of all ages.

A maths teacher at Ormiston Junior College in the southeastern Auckland suburb of Flat Bush, Subash received top honours at National Excellence in Teaching Awards in 2019, a community-based awards programme.

He takes to the Internet in the evenings for free live-streaming sessions. “I don't charge a single dollar…I charged $50 an hour for one child [for private tuitions earlier]. But I made an impact on only that one child.”

“But when I do online tutoring and the fact that that video is recorded, which means any kid can rewatch it, the number of kids impacted by it is far higher."

Subash says a key reason behind his YouTube success is that he has recognised students learn best when they are ready to learn.

"I stopped doing private tutoring about three years ago because I found that when students are being sent to private tutoring by their parents, most of the time, it's the parents that want the kids to go, the kids don't want to go.

“In my situation, I found that when kids attend my tutorial, they are already choosing to come to learn by themselves. They're deciding they are ready to learn.”

Subash’s online tutorials are interactive sessions. During the Covid-19 pandemic, he would have as many as 900 students attending a live class, mostly from New Zealand, followed by the US and India.

He says the positive feedback from his students is his biggest reward. “The number of kids that message me and say things like, ‘Hey, because of you, I understand maths better, or because of you I'm doing engineering’...When I get messages like that, I feel I'm doing something good for the community."

Born in the small town of Kodumudi in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, Subash's early years were marked by curiosity and a love for mathematics. He developed a passion for the subject at a young age, thanks to the unconventional teaching methods of his mother, a maths teacher.

“Instead of conventional lessons, she engaged me in games, puzzles, and chess matches. This playful approach instilled in me a fascination for patterns and problem-solving, igniting a lifelong passion for mathematics.”

At 12, Subash moved to New Zealand with his family. He attended Selwyn College and later pursued higher education at University of Auckland, majoring in mathematics and minoring in statistics.

He then ventured into the world of teaching, joining Manurewa High School, Ormiston Senior College and later becoming a teacher at Ormiston Junior College, where he is currently teaches Year 7 to 10.

On being asked about his views on New Zealand’s education system compared to India, he says, “Even till this day, when I think back to my education in India, it was always like the teacher would come and say, ‘Right, you're doing this’.

“I struggled to understand why we're doing that or why we were learning that? In New Zealand, you're given many more opportunities to apply the mathematical knowledge and knowledge you learned; you're not just learning for the sake of learning.

“However, even in India now, there is a big battle to shift kids thinking from just assessments and exams into more projects and more about problem-solving and applying the knowledge.”

Despite being far from his family, spread across India and Australia, Subash remains connected to his roots. He dreams of taking his seven-year-old son back to Tamil Nadu to show him the village where he had spent his formative years. He also plans to visit Sri Lanka with his wife, embracing her heritage.