Promasidor reaffirms commitment to STEM education

The search for who will wear the 2019 Cowbellpedia crown began last Tuesday when Promasidor Nigeria Limited, the makers of Cowbell Milk, called on secondary schools across the country to avail themselves of the opportunity and register their students.

Managing Director of the company, Mr. Anders Einarsson, who announced it in Lagos, reiterated the firm’s commitment to improving the teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in Nigeria.

He said that in the last 21 years, Cowbell had been involved in the improvement of Mathematics education in the country, while the Cowbellpedia initiative had provided a platform to identify, showcase and reward excellence in the subject.

These initiatives, he explained, have stimulated the interest of students in Mathematics at the secondary school level and have further reinforced its importance in the growth of modern economies.

He informed that the competition is free and open to students in JSS3 and SSS2 from ages 10 to 18 attending full time secondary education in both public and private schools in the country.

He said: “As part of the brand’s deliberate effort in encouraging girl-child interest in STEM courses, we are maintaining our appeal to mixed secondary schools to nominate minimum two female students for each category. Research has shown that a positive relationship exists between girl-child education and the GDP of a nation.”

Besides Cowbellpedia competition, he added that the firm is significantly impacting the lives of the future leaders through “Harness Your Dream” platform, a career awareness workshop for public secondary schools.

He also disclosed that the ultimate prize for this year’s edition is N2 million and an all-expense paid educational excursion outside the country. The first and second runners-up will go home with N1.5 million and N1 million respectively.

The teacher of the top prize winner will be awarded N500,000 while those of the first and second runners-up will get N400,000 and N300,000 respectively.

Marketing Manager of the company, Mr. Abiodun Ayodeji, explained that registration for this year is strictly online and the portal for registration, which opened on Monday, October 1, 2018, would be closed on Sunday, February 3, 2019, while the qualifying examination would take place nationwide on Saturday, February 9, 2019 at designated centres.