AWKA AND EKWULOBIA DIOCESES HOLD IN-SERVICE TRAINING FOR MATHEMATICS TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS By Emmanuel Nwafor
AWKA AND EKWULOBIA DIOCESES HOLD IN-SERVICE TRAINING FOR MATHEMATICS TEACHERS IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS It was a remarkable experience for mathematics teachers in Catholic Secondary Schools in both Awka and Ekwulobia Dioceses when they had sessions with a renowned mathematician, Prof. Charles E. Chidume.
How it went
Prof. Charles Chidume who is a native of Nimo is the current Acting Vice Chancellor of African University of Science and Technology, Abuja and the 2019 winner of AMMSI-Philip Griffiths Prize for his outstanding contribution to mathematics. On Wednesday, 24th February 2021, Prof. Chidume had a session with mathematics teachers from Ekwulobia Diocese at Holy Child Secondary School, Isuofia; while on 25th February, 2021, he had same with mathematics teachers from Awka Diocese at St. John of God Secondary School, Awka. The Professor, in his opening speech, stated that the reason he decided to come back to Nigeria despite all the big offers coming from so many countries abroad is to raise young and vibrant African mathematicians. He expressed his gratitude to Fr. Julian Anaeto, the manager of Holy Child Secondary School Isuofia, the education secretaries of Awka and Ekwulobia Dioceses, Fr. Maximus and Fr. Dr. Vitalis Anike respectively, for their relentless effort in making the event to see the light of the day. He also expressed his appreciation to the past SS3 students of Holy Child Secondary School, Isuofia for making him proud through their WASSCE and NECO results.
More so, he highlighted the reasons behind massive failure of students in mathematics for the past 15 years in WASSCE and NECO and thus called on teachers to adopt students’ friendly teaching methodology. He shared with them the 5 key steps to tackle any given problem in geometry which he termed “IGODO” which means “The Key”. And he encouraged teachers to apply the “IGODO” whenever they are teaching circle geometry in their various classrooms. He assured them that with these key steps, if delivered properly, no students will fail his or her mathematics exam in WASSCE.
went further to introduce his team members who are all PhD holders in Mathematics: Dr. Abubakar Adamu and Miss Lois Okereke. The team worked together and drilled the teachers present on the efficient and effective method of teaching mathematics to secondary school students.
In his concluding speech, Prof. Charles Chidume thanked all the teachers for participating fully in the training and encouraged them to believe in themselves that they can help in raising vibrant mathematicians.
On their own part, the teachers expressed their thankfulness to Prof. Charles and his team. For them, Prof. Charles is not just an educator; but a mentor to many Nigerian mathematics students. The education secretaries of both Awka and Ekwulobia dioceses in their note of thanks maintained that Prof. Charles has opened a needed platform for retraining of mathematics teachers. For them, Prof. Charles is simply a source of inspiration to many students in Africa and beyond. Finally, they called on the teachers who benefitted from this rare opportunity to impart on their students what they have garnered.
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