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AMU poised to dispel maths phobia among female students

By Kanayo Umeh
30 June 2016   |   3:01 am
The African Mathematical Union (AMU) says the Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad for Girls (PAMO-G), among other things is aimed at addressing the inherent phobia associated with mathematics and the sciences among girls.
Mathematical Instruments

Mathematical Instruments

The African Mathematical Union (AMU) says the Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad for Girls (PAMO-G), among other things is aimed at addressing the inherent phobia associated with mathematics and the sciences among girls.

Over 10, 000 secondary school girls drawn from the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) took part in the national stage of PAMO-G, which recently held to select the country’s flag bearers to next year’s Pan-African Mathematics Olympiad for Girls.

The competition, which took place recently, was initiated by the African Mathematical Union (AMU) to, among other things, elicit and sustain the interest of female students in the subject.

Solarin, in a statement Monday, said the union, conscious of the obvious gender bias in mathematics and the mathematical sciences, evolved the competition to strengthen the teaching and learning of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), to develop a critical mass of young female scientists in Sub-Saharan Africa.

He observed that with the depleting number of higher-level manpower in the continent’s academia in mathematics and core sciences, something critical and urgent needs to be done to encourage the young ones to pursue courses in these areas and specialties.

The NMC chief executive stated that the competition would also engender cooperation, collaboration and encourage the exchange of ideas among African students and teachers, which would help to improve the standard of education on the continent.

Solarin stressed that since education remains critical to the rapid development of the continent, the union is doing everything possible to ensure that African mathematicians are comparable with their counterparts elsewhere, while assuring that the country would present its best female students to compete with the rest of Africa.

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