School Administrator Tasks Government on Funding of Science Education
The Administrator of Grace Schools, Gbagada, Mrs. Tokunbo Edun has stressed the need for government to consciously improve funding of science and technology education all over the country so as to facilitate economic development.
Edun who made this call, recently when her school got the third place prize of this year’s commonwealth science class competition, organised by the British Council in Nigeria, expressed concern that many public primary and secondary schools around the nation do not have well equipped laboratory, a situation which makes learning of science subjects a little difficult for the children.
She said most developed nations of the world have placed special emphasis on science and technology education at the early stages of the education system, adding, “there is no gain saying the fact that we need to encourage our children to do better in Mathematics, Science and Technology education by putting in place well equipped laboratories and improving funding of science education generally.”
She attributed the success of her pupils in the competition to the training they received in a conducive learning environment where they have quality science equipment and information technology facilities even at the primary school level. On the significance of the Commonwealth Science class competition, she said it exposes the children annually to the use of internet for collaborative work with their peers in other schools within the commonwealth.
The Head of Grace Children School, Dr. Nike Akindayo said 56 schools from across the commonwealth came together and carried out joint investigative science projects based on one of the following themes; renewable energy, global food security, emerging infectious diseases and climate change as well as rising sea levels.
She noted that Grace children school was among the schools that formed the team which did the project on emerging infectious diseases.
“Other schools that participated in the project on emerging infectious diseases are Choithram School, Indore Indian, Christ Faith Mission, “I” Primary School, Adenta Accra Ghana and Jovdebour Dams Salam Fadi Madrasah Dhaka, Bangladesh. The children gathered information through visit to health centres and shared ideas on- line before jointly coming up with their project. The third place prize was awarded to Grace children school their project titled sustaining steppers based on the emerging infectious diseases, showed that the team worked closely with one another and with their mentor and shared ideas and best practice.
“They included learning outside the classroom in their project such as by visiting hospitals and their communities and presented their work imaginatively to send the message that prevention is better than cure.”