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SAF partners FSEC, NAPPS to train science teachers

By Ujunwa Atueyi
02 July 2015   |   12:23 am
Science Ambassadors Foundation (SAF) has concluded arrangements with Federal Science Equipment Centre (FSEC), Ijanikin, Lagos, to train about 5,000 science teachers in the state.   The two-day training scheduled for July 13th and 14th, is aimed at promoting science education in the country; stimulating enthusiasm among science teachers and encouraging students to choose career in…

Nigeria educationScience Ambassadors Foundation (SAF) has concluded arrangements with Federal Science Equipment Centre (FSEC), Ijanikin, Lagos, to train about 5,000 science teachers in the state.
 
The two-day training scheduled for July 13th and 14th, is aimed at promoting science education in the country; stimulating enthusiasm among science teachers and encouraging students to choose career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Participants are drawn from schools under the National Association of Proprietors of Private Schools (NAPPS), Lagos state chapter.
 
Speaking with newsmen at the University of Lagos, Chairperson of the foundation, Mrs. Chinyere Nnabugwu, said the overall aim of the exercise was to demystify science education, which most students dread.
   
She said, “If truly Nigeria wants to become an industrialised nation come 2020, there is need for massive investment in STEM. There is nothing you want to talk about in life that science is not involved. That is why we want to train teachers and show them that they do not have to wait for a fully equipped laboratory to teach science in an interesting manner.
 
“For instance, the pregnancy test kit is under the principle of chromatography and you can do this using tissue paper and ink or marker. But here in Nigeria, somebody is bringing it in and making money out of it, whereas it is something we can do on our own or even teach our people how to make it. This is the type of training that would be offered to the teachers who will transfer the knowledge to the Nigerian child. The time is long overdue, but if we start right, we will get it right.”
 
Patron of the foundation, Prof Oluwole Familoni, said the training was the beginning of something good for private schools and the country, just as he warned that the exercise of “alternative to practical” should be discarded, as there is no alternative to practical.
 
He said the foundation encourages communication and collaboration among STEM professionals so as to foster awareness on the contributions of STEM in every nation.
 
Assistant Director of Education, FSEC, Mrs. Esther Mordi, lamented that students were not doing well in the sciences because they are not practically inclined. “We have told teachers to stop teaching theory all the time. There are local materials around them, which can be fabricated and improvised and the scientific outcome will be the same.”

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