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Digital payments company Interswitch is championing the cause of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education with its recently launched science competition for secondary schools in Nigeria. This initiative, the Speed, Precision, Accuracy, and Knowledge (SPAK) contest, should see some of the brightest students in the country engage in feisty battles of problem-solving and intellectual rapid fires. There will be rewards for the victorious, and, Interswitch hopes, a countrywide reignition of interest in STEM subjects. At the launch of the SPAK science competition in Abuja, Interswitch’s Chief Marketing Officer, Cherry Eromosele, suggested that the program fits in with the company’s involvement in Nigeria’s emerging digital payments ecosystem, which is technology driven. She explained that it was a part of a broader program, called the ‘Switch A Future’ initiative. “As a mix of education, technology and entertainment which align with Interswitch’s value of excellence and innovation, this initiative is designed to identify, promote and spark the right support and reward for STEM students and stakeholders,” Ms. Eromosele said. She also alluded to the need for Nigeria to bridge the gap between its present and future economic demands, and what the country’s education environment currently provides. “For our youth to succeed in today’s knowledge-based economy, they need to acquire the right skillset, their minds need to be re-engineered and reconciled with STEM education in order to compete in or create a job market,” she said. The SPAK competition is open to year-eleven (SS2) students; Interswitch is encouraging schools across the country to register their best students for the contest. The top-performing student of the competition will be awarded a five-year scholarship, a mac laptop, and a gold trophy; the first runner-up will get a three-year scholarship, a laptop, and a silver trophy; and the third-placed competitor will be handed a two-year scholarship, a laptop, and a bronze trophy. The company also promises to employ all three winners upon completing their studies. While the SPAK science competition is an Interswitch Corporate Social Responsibility project, its initiators say they hope that it will offer young people in the country an interesting way to engage with STEM. This engagement, they opine, should stir the rather static pot of science and technology education, and make careers in STEM more attractive options for young people in the country. There’s growing demand for STEM skills the world over, and a shortage of such skills persists in many parts of the globe. In Nigeria, this shortage is particularly pronounced, with an inadequate education system struggling- and failing -to supply the labor market with personnel qualified enough for the jobs being offered in the science and technology fields. The World Economic Forum’s recent employment reports for Africa and the world indicate that 51% of jobs in Nigeria are susceptible to automation, and that half of the world’s jobs will be in STEM fields by the year 2030. In view of these unfolding realities, Interswitch’s intervention appears to be only proper.
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This article was first published on 26th February 2018

ikenna-nwachukwu

Ikenna Nwachukwu holds a bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka. He loves to look at the world through multiple lenses- economic, political, religious and philosophical- and to write about what he observes in a witty, yet reflective style.

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