London, May 28 - Britain must place more value on teaching maths in schools or risk falling behind rapidly growing Asian competitors, the executive chairman of Google has said.

People with no maths skills will be left behind in future job markets where all of the highest-paid jobs will demand some level of numerical ability, The Telegraph Monday quoted Eric Schmidt, one of the internet's most powerful figures, as saying.

Speaking at Google's Zeitgeist conference in Hertfordshire last week Schmidt, 57, lent his backing to the Telegraph's Make Britain Count campaign, claiming "cultural prejudices" are responsible for the country's low mathematical ability.

His comments came after Ofsted, the official body for inspecting schools in Britain, announced this week that British children's poor numeracy is a "cause of national concern" with almost half of all schools failing to teach the subject to an adequate standard.