math test. His wife suggested that Kumon begin helping their son. After all, he was a high school
math teacher with 20 years experience. Kumon began to compile worksheets that would take Takeshi step-by-step from the easiest arithmetic to the complex maths he taught in his classes. The Kumon method was born.
After only a year, it was clear that Takeshi was learning better than he ever had at school. Within
another year, his wife persuaded him to allow other children in the neighbourhood to use the same
worksheets he had developed for his own son. The results were much the same.
In 1958, the Kumon Institute of Education was established in Osaka. In that first year, it attracted
300 students through word of mouth recommendation. In no time, word spread beyond the city of
Osaka and new centers opened up all over Japan. Kumon soon became the nation's
number one private educational program.
The Kumon math program was launched in the UK in 1991. The English program was introduced in
1997. There are now over 48,000 students studying at around 550 study centers across the UK and Ireland.
Kumon is now one of the largest private educational establishments in the world, and is still
growing. There are Kumon study centers in 44 countries worldwide. In addition to the UK and Japan, Kumon is well established in the USA, Canada, Australia, South Africa, Brazil, Germany, and Spain.
(statue of Toru Kumon in Japan)