The Federal Government has said that it is working with education partners including the Nigerian Tulip International Colleges to demystify mathematics as a 'difficult' subject among students across schools in the country.
Speaking on Thursday, April 6, at the 20th Annual National Mathematics Competition (ANMC), Elizabeth Afabe, a representative of the permanent secretary of the Ministry of Education said students are known to be wary of mathematics as a subject but not anymore.
Her words: "Being a maths teacher, I know how students feel when it comes to the subject of mathematics and taught further mathematics and mathematics for 20 to 25 years. I know what I went through teacher, getting the students to love the subject.
"We are demystifying mathematics among students in schools, we know they hate maths because you see them jumping out of the windows once the teacher comes in. But we are creating the right environment for them to learn."
The ANMC is the largest and yearly competition organised for mathematics enthusiasts in Primary 5, Primary 6, and JSS 3 by NTIC in collaboration with the National Mathematics Centre (NMC).
The competition recognises the achievements of outstanding young mathematics students with the goal to produce exceptional students who would lead to changes in the inventions that would shape the future of sciences in Nigeria, Africa, and the world.
This year, 32 out of about 10,000 students who participated in the first round across states in Nigeria won scholarships and other prizes.
Nwakuche Festus Chidubem of Pyramid Learning Academy in Anambra State emerged overall best with a cash prize of N100,000 and a scholarship waiver while Amah Chibuike from Diamond Special School in Imo State got N75,000 cash prizes with a scholarship waiver.
Continuing, Afabe commended the NTIC, its director and its staff, stating that the institution has continued to provide an enabling environment for students not only in the area of mathematics but other subjects in general.
She added:
"There must be something encouraging students here (Afabe said referring to NTIC), to keep doing well until they graduate and go to get scholarships abroad, you must keep it up."
In his address, the managing director of NTIC, Fevzullah Bilgin, said the school has been organising ANMC for the past 20 years.
Bilgin said that the aim of ANMC is to harness outstanding young mathematics minds, sharpen their rough edges and groom them to become strong and proficient in sciences and self-efficient.
His words:
"Mathematics is a critical part of modern life, and its importance cannot be overstated. Mathematics is a fundamental branch of science that is essential for understanding and analyzing the world around us.
"It provides us with the tools to understand the world around us and make informed decisions that affect our lives and the lives of others, and this is what Annual National Mathematics Competitions revolves around."
Listing some of the institution's exceptional students, Bilgin said the NTIC has more than 144 students studying in the school through the ANMC scholarship scheme.
"It is worth mentioning some of ANMC's exceptional students are; Henry Aniobi, a 2007 ANMC winner. Henry is a three-time gold winner of the Pan African Mathematical Olympiad. He is also a four-time International Mathematics Olympiad medalist worldwide.
"Ayomide Bamidele, a 2008 ANMC winner, was a National Physics Olympiad winner in 2014. He also won bronze at International Physics Olympiad in 2014 in Kazakhstan. Vincent Anioke, a 2006 ANMC winner, scored 2390 out of 2400 in S.A.T and gained a scholarship into MIT, one of the world's leading universities.
"A recent one is Chioma Opara, a 2016 ANMC winner who graduated in the 2022/2023 academic session. She had an almost perfect score of 1550 in SAT, 345 in the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), and an unprecedented straight 9As in West African Examination Council (WAFC). She set the record straight by gaining scholarships to two prestigious universities in the world: Toronto University, Canada and Long Island University, USA."
In addition, the director of the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Professor Mebine commended the NTIC for its efforts in sharpening students across the country and contributing to the development of the education system in Nigeria.
Represented by Professor Jonathan Ogidi, the NMC director said the centre's relationship with NTIC is symbiotic one as both parties benefit from each other.
His words:
"NTIC provides an ideal educational environment that can compete with any standard across the world. They maintain very disciplined workforce including their support staff.
"The students are very very competitive because of a suitable learning environment which has been provided for them by NTIC."