The National Mathematical Centre (NMC) has announced that it will retrain mathematics teachers in order to improve the subject’s teaching and learning in schools.
Prof. Promise Mebine, the Centre’s Director/Chief Executive, stated this on Saturday during the second round of the 2021 National Mathematical Sciences Olympiad Competition in Abuja.
Mebine, who emphasized the importance of mathematics in the development of education, stated that inadequate funding is the country’s bane for mathematics development.
“If the Centre is given the necessary resources, it will be able to train students to compete with their counterparts from any other country,” he stated.
“The issue is a lack of training funds; we need funds to train teachers in mathematical sciences so that they can properly train students.”
“First, we must train the trainers so that they have the necessary knowledge of the subject; some people study mathematics but do not know how to teach it to students.”
“We have also developed mathematics kits, games, and even mathematics text books that are extremely simple to understand.”
“So we’re doing our best; the problem is that people are afraid of math because of some misconceptions about math.”
“Also, even though we are doing our best in terms of training, the method of teaching may not be adequate for better understanding of the subject.”
The director, on the other hand, encouraged the participants to give it their all in order to be good ambassadors for their respective mathematical sciences schools.
According to him, Olympiad is an annual national competition that includes both public and private secondary schools.
In addition, Mrs Dorathy Azubuike of the Secondary Education Board, while calling for teacher training, praised the Centre for taking the initiative and providing students with the opportunity to compete among themselves.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the Olympiad Competition is being held in five mathematical sciences subjects: mathematics, physics, biology, informatics, and chemistry.
The Olympiad Competition is divided into three phases, the second of which is currently underway, after which the best students from all subjects will advance to the third stage, when the overall winners will be determined.