VSO partners Katsina govt on science education

UK based non-governmental organization: Voluntary Service Organization (VSO),over the weekend, embarked on massive promotion of Science Education in Katsina state under its mobile platform: Science on Wheel Programme, which the organization said will take science and Mathematics teaching to thousands of school children across Katsina State, North West Nigeria.

The Mobile Science Lab Project which was officially launched on 26th July 2017, flagged off last Friday at Government Senior Secondary School Muduru, a 14 kilometer drive from Katsina city center and was billed to drive across initially through 15 out of the 432 schools in the State with the aim of strengthening the quality of teaching and learning of science and Mathematics.

VSO Media officer, Amina Abdilrashid, who spoke at the flag off ceremony, disclosed that the mobile science lab contains equipment and teaching aids for practical science experiments and is complemented by 60 sciences and Mathematics Teachers trained in innovative teaching methods. She further maintained that the project which was in partnership with the Katsina State Ministry of Education, PZ, Development partners, and other Professional voluntary agencies is aimed at revolutionizing the teaching and learning of Science in the state and generally in Nigeria

Amina who also noted that VSO has been operating in Nigeria in the last fifty years, regretted that the country which has the highest number of school aged children, was ranked 131 out of 139 countries that promotes Maths and Science Education, according to World Economic Forum’s Business Competitive Index

VSO Nigeria Country Director, Lucia Balonwu while speaking at the occasion lamented that, Nigeria, alongside much of Africa, runs the risk of being left far behind in the world races into the digital age adding that VSO has brought 21st century science and Mathematics to thousands of children in rural communities, with the intention to inspire them to become ‘’the Albert Einsteins of tomorrow.’’

She said “Despite there being over 400 winners (since 1901) of the Nobel Prize for Physics, Chemistry, Physiology or Medicine, an indigenous Sub-Saharan African is yet to win a Nobel Prize in one of these scientific fields.

“Nigeria’s low performance in science and Maths has been linked to lack of funding for infrastructure and laboratory supplies, leading to highly theoretical teaching practices with little or no practical sessions. Remuneration for academics and support staff and competing priorities has led to low funding levels for science education and research.”

Augustine Okezie, Abuja