By Kofoworola Belo-Osagie
The University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the Minerva University, United States are monitoring the progress of 41 SS1 pupils who participated in the UNESCO/IAGIFTED STEM Camp for Gifted Girls at UNILAG recently to offer them admission and scholarships after their secondary education.
The girls drawn from Federal Government Colleges and private schools across the six geo-political zones learnt about mental mathematics, Olympiads, use of UNESCO Micro science and maths kits, use of rubric cube and abacus, and ICT/coding during the two-week camp sponsored by UNESCO and implemented by the International Academy for the Gifted (IAGIFTED) in collaboration with UNILAG.
Speaking at the closing of the camp held at the Afe Babalola Auditorium, UNILAG Vice-Chancellor, Prof Toyin Ogundipe, said the University would admit girls from the Northern parts of Nigeria who chose the university and scored at least 12 out of 30 in the institution’s post-UTME.
“When it is time for you to go to the university just make sure you get up to 200 in the UTME and 12 in the post-UTME and we will give you admission,” he said.
Founder, IAGIFTED, Prof. Adewale Solarin said Minerva University got in touch with him and expressed interested in preparing the girls for scholarship in the U.S. based university that also allows students to study in other cities around the world.
“I read an email to the girls because I got a mail (from) the Minerva School. I saw the advert posted by UNILAG about the camp. I got a mail from the African Coordinator (of Minerva). Prof, how is the camp going; that they are interested in the girls. Also (he said) he will come in January so we discuss and he can begin to work with them so that they can become students of Minerva University with full scholarship,” he said.
When school resumes in January, the girls are expected to begin sharing their knowledge with other girls. Prof. Solarin said they would get support to be able to share what they learnt.
“I am going to have a session with the teacher after this now to tell them exactly what to expect and so they can disseminate everything that happened here. That is why they are going with materials and for every presentation.
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We have given them 64 GB memory card containing more than 32GB information even the software. For every software they used we tell them either to download from the internet or how to upload from a flash into their system and then to make the program work. Also speaking,
Speaking on the benefits of the camp, Mercy Akinyemi, who won a gold medal in Maths in the camp, said she enjoyed learning in new ways.
“I enjoyed myself –learning programming and the practical biology and physics classes, especially the maths even tough it was tough for me,” she said.
Bronze medalist, Mirabel Asi, a pupil of Federal Government Girls’ College, Owerri, said she learnt academics in a way not delivered in school.
“It was educative, interesting and quite exploratory. I learnt so many things different from school. When I get back to school, I will teach those in my class first before others,” she said.
A teacher, Mrs. Folashade Odeshoga from MayFlower School, Ikene, said the programme helped to demystify the sciences so the girls would not be afraid to take on challenges.
“It makes the girls to be courageous so that they can know that there is no man’s profession. Every profession is for both genders and to give them that confidence that they can do it,” she said.
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