Forty-eight pupils from different primary schools across the country have been awarded scholarships for their entire secondary school year at any Nigerian Tulip International Colleges (NTIC) school branch.
The gesture was extended to the pupils at the 16th edition of Annual National Mathematics Competition, a yearly organised competition for maths enthusiast in Primary 5 & 6 across Nigeria and sponsored by NTIP and National Mathematics Centre.
Managing Director of NTIC, Sabri UNAL, said the 48 pupils were exceptional during the competition which held in Abuja.
He stated that NTIC has been promoting effective teaching and learning of maths at the primary levels and developing greater capacity through its Annual National Maths Competition in the last 16 years.
According to him, about 40,000 pupils participated in this year’s edition of the competition which took place in various states across Nigeria.
Sabri UNAL observed that the competition which started in 2003 was now a nationwide prestigious competition responsible for churning out great talents in the subject of mathematics.
“The main reason for the competition is to deal with the phobia for mathematics among our children because maths is the foundation for anything you want to do or be in life, and the competition has helped in achieving this objective.
“Many of our pupils nationwide now spend more time studying and understanding mathematics, which has helped to a great extent, in reducing the level of phobia for the subject among our children.”
“NTIC has been the only sponsor of this competition, while the National Mathematical Centre has assisted in its organisation,” he said.
The three best performing pupils were awarded with full tuition plus cash prizes that ranged from N100,000 to N300,000 respectively.
Their maths teachers were not left out as they were rewarded with N200,000 each.
Their schools were not left out in the reward as gifts that ranged from giant size photocopiers to desktop computers, printers and smart phones.
The first position went to Ejezie T. Euzebius from Mount Olive School, Anambra state, while the second and third positions were taken by Jessica James from Pleroma International School Rivers and Tamunodumotein Sekibo from Tender Year Preparatory School Abuja, respectively.
The exam coordinator, Mr Yerkin Shaimerdenov said 171,631 pupils have participated in the competition across Nigeria since the inception of the competition in 2003.
“In this, NTIC offered 100 per cent scholarship that covers tuition plus hostel fee for six years (throughout secondary school) to 180 outstanding students who have participated in the competition”.
Shaimerdenov noted that some of the students that came into NTIC through the competition have been harnessed and were doing remarkably well in their studies.
A N50million cheque was subsequently presented to the management of NTIC by Access Bank in support of the competition.
