A Professor of Biochemistry and Dean of Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Benin (UNIBEN), Jerry Orhue and the programme manager at Stemcafe, Elohor Udubrae, as well as Founder, Vinsight Technologies, Tomisin Kolawole, among others have tasked stakeholders in the educational sector, particularly government at all levels to invest substantially in the provision of much-needed infrastructure and requisite manpower to boost Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education in the country.
They also asked for restructuring of the country’s education system to pave way for technological inclusion in the curriculum
They gave this position at a monthly virtual Ed-tech forum, organised by the Mastercard Foundation in conjunction with ccHub Limited recently.
Speaking at the forum, the UNIBEN don, Prof. Orhue, who is one of the panellists stressed the need to give priority attention to tech infrastructure and manpower to halt the decline in science enrolment in Nigerian schools, particularly at the secondary level.
While admitting that science education is capital intensive, Orhue urged the government across tiers to return to the good old days when science education was taking the lead towards national development.
He said back then, students were encouraged to do science subjects because the government placed emphasis on it even above art and commercial subjects.
According to him, it was a thing of pride at that period up to the early 90s for a student to be referred to as a science student.
“But something can still be done if we are serious as a country to revamp science education and that is for all stakeholders to go back to the basics with the government be on the driver’s seat,” he stressed.
In his own contribution, Ed-tech entrepreneur and Founder, Vinsight Technologies, Tomisin Kolawole said there is really a need for Nigeria’s education system to be restructured to pave way for technological inclusion in the curriculum.
According to him, stakeholders in the education sector need to collaborate to foster the much-needed technological change in the country and globally and more ed-tech entrepreneurs or start-ups also need to be encouraged through policymaking to develop solutions that will make STEM education attractive to many young Nigerians.
In her remarks, Program Manager, Stemcafe, Elohor Udubrae emphasised the need for Nigeria to have the right resources and enabling environment to be able to drive the meaningful development in STEM education in the country.
She said the onus to achieve this lied with all the stakeholders including ed-tech entrepreneurs that should come up with easy-to-access and customized services that can promote STEM education.
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