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The National Mathematical Centre (NMC), says it will retrain mathematics teachers for effective teaching and learning of the subject in schools.
Prof. Promise Mebine Director/Chief Executive of the Centre, indicated this during the second round of the 2021 National Mathematical Sciences Olympiad Competition on Saturday in Abuja.
Mebine, who underscored the importance of mathematics in the development of education, said that inadequate funding is the bane of mathematics development in the country.
He said: “If the Centre is given the necessary resources, it would be able to train students to compete with their counterparts from any other country.
“The problem is the funds to train, we need funds to train teachers in the areas of mathematical sciences so that they could train the students well.
“We need to train the trainers first for them to have the necessary knowledge of the subject, some persons study mathematics but they do not know how to impart it on the students.
“We have also developed mathematics kits, we have mathematics games and even mathematics text books that are so simple to understand.
“So we are doing our best, the problem is that people are afraid of Maths due to some wrong perceptions about mathematics.
“Also, the method of teaching may not be good enough for better understanding of the subject although we are doing our best in terms of training.”
The director, however, encouraged the participants to put in their best so as to be good ambassadors to their various schools in mathematical sciences.
According to him, Olympiad is an annual national competition which cut across both government and privately-owned secondary schools.
Also, Mrs Dorathy Azubuike from the Secondary Education Board, while calling for teachers to be trained, appreciated the Centre for the initiative and opportunity given to the students to contest among themselves.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Olympiad Competition is being conducted on five mathematical sciences subjects such as, mathematics, physics, biology, informatics and chemistry.
The Olympiad Competition is in three stages, the second stage is ongoing after which the best students in all the subjects will proceed to the third stage where the overall winners will emerge. (NAN)
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