“Wow”: Roodepoort Maths Genius Kairav Chetty Beats 30,000 Students To Claim First Place in the World

• Roodepoort’s Kairav Chetty has placed first in the world at the 2026 World Maths Day competition ahead of over 30 000 students
• The Grade 5 learner answered 1 245 questions correctly in just 20 minutes to claim the top spot on the global leaderboard
• Chetty has now placed first in South Africa for three consecutive years in a row at the World Maths Day competition

A Grade 5 boy from Roodepoort has put South Africa on the global map.

Kairav Chetty, a learner at Pinnacle College Ridge View Primary, swept the 2026 World Maths Day competition. He placed first in the world, first in South Africa, and first at his own school. Chetty solved 1 245 questions in 20 minutes, faster than any of the 30 000 students who entered. No other student on the planet came close to matching what he put on the board.

World Maths Day is no small stage for any learner brave enough to enter. The annual online competition is run by the Australian education platform 3P Learning every year. It draws students aged five to 18 from more than 160 countries around the world. The event once set a Guinness World Record as the largest online mathematics competition ever held.

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Participants race through a series of 60-second live challenges, answering as many questions correctly as possible. It is high pressure, high speed, and completely unforgiving of any mistake. Chetty thrived in every single second of it.

Three years at the top

What makes this achievement even more jaw-dropping is that it is not a lucky streak. Chetty has placed first in South Africa for three consecutive years in this very competition. At Pinnacle College Ridge View, a private school in the Radiokop area of Roodepoort, his results have become legendary. The school sits west of Johannesburg and is known for its strong focus on mathematics and coding.

What 1 245 questions in 20 minutes means

To understand the scale of what Chetty pulled off, you need to know how World Maths Day actually works. Learners compete through 3P Learning’s Mathletics platform in a series of one-minute live games. Each correct answer earns a single point toward the student’s total score for the day.

The sessions run in real time, meaning Chetty was not just racing against a timer on a screen. He was going head-to-head with students from dozens of countries at the exact same time. Speed and accuracy both count equally in this competition, and neither alone is ever enough.

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Pinnacle College Ridge View Primary announced the achievement on Facebook on 16 April 2026, South Africans responded with enormous pride.

See the Facebook post by the school below:

Mzansi reacts to the achievement

Briefly News compiled some comments from the post below.

Matlhako Em Molepo commented:

“What an achievement! Well done, Kairav. 👏🏻”

Keindira Moodley said:

“Wow, super well done, Kairav. You make us all proud. Bless you, dear child. 💓”

Emrahn Mia wrote:

“Excellent, well done. Wish you achieve great things in the future.”

Rennie Naidoo said:

“Wow! How brilliant is that? Well done, young man.”

Shanthi Chetty commented:

“Wow, that is super awesome. What a great achievement.”

More about learners

• Mpumalanga’s top matric learner has been rewarded with a brand-new car and financial support.
• A technology teacher from a school in Randfontein shared the impressive moving amusement park models that his talented learners built using simple recycled materials.
• A primary school from rural Tsomo became the first to transport over 100 learners via air travel for an educational tour.

Source: Briefly News