Cowbellpedia: Creating Future Generation of Inventors

By Kasie Abone

In today’s advanced world of learning and global competitiveness, science, technology, engineering and mathematics are key drivers of economies. These key areas of study have thrown up a lot of opportunities for forward looking economies to grow their human capital.

Today, it is the creation, mastery and utilisation of modern science and technology that basically distinguishes the developing and the developed nations of the world. It therefore means that the standard of living of a nation is dependent on its level of development of science and technology.

The foundation of science and technology, which is the basic requirement for the development of nations, is mathematics.  Therefore, Mathematics, according to experts, plays a vital role in nation building.

Across the globe, investment in education has assumed an entirely new frontier and approach such that government and corporate organisations have come to realise that building capacity in mathematics represents the driving force in the 21st century and such needs to be catered for.

While other organisations concentrate on throwing money into less knowledge-driven ventures that have not addressed the growing concerns of mass failure in a key subject like Mathematics, forward-looking ones have decided to tackle the issue head on.

One of the corporate organisations leading this initiative is Promasidor Nigeria Limited, through the Cowbellpedia platform. This comprises of Cowbellpedia Secondary Schools Mathematics TV Quiz Show, Cowbellpedia Radio (a Mathematics class on radio) and Cowbellpedia Mobile App (Mathematics Q&A App).

Through this platform, the company is determined to arouse and re-awaken the interest of students in mathematics at the secondary school level because of the importance of the subject.

Managing Director of the company, Mr. Olivier Thiry, explained that a strong foundation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education is very important at this stage when Nigeria is determined to broaden its economic base from a primary commodity-driven to a services-oriented economy like that of the developed world.

Thiry, who spoke in Lagos during a press briefing to mark the commencement of the 2016 Cowbellpedia secondary School Mathematics TV Quiz Show, added that STEM education would galvanise the economy in such a direction.

“Economic development in the developed world has occurred at the speed and intensity it has due to a strong foundation of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.

“STEM courses are pivotal to a nation’s technological advancement and Mathematics, which has historically been seen by students as an unattractive subject, is a key component of STEM education,” he said.

Thiry reiterated the commitment of the company towards education, saying it is the most important investment for the future of the children of Nigeria, especially the girl-child because it allows them greater power to make informed choices.

To encourage students’ interest in the subject, the company significantly increased the prize money for the finals of this year’s competition for both students and teachers. This year, the top prize student winner in each category went home with a million Naira in addition to an all-expense paid education excursion outside the country. The teachers of the winners in each category got four hundred thousand Naira each.

All these improvements, according to the company underscore its effort to provide a credible platform that discovers, recognises and rewards excellence in Mathematics, a critical component of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in Nigeria. This is in addition to the quality nutrition that is provided by the Cowbell brand for the nourishment of the Nigerian populace, especially children.

The 2016 edition of the Cowbellpedia Mathematics Television Quiz Show came to a glorious end in Lagos with Juliet Ekoko and Ayooluwa Oguntade, both of The Ambassadors College, Ota, Ogun State winning the Junior and Senior categories, respectively.

Oguntade, who has been a class captain, a class representative and now the Head Boy of his school, aspires to study Engineering in the University and run his own company. “The top CEOs I read about studied engineering and run their companies. I also want to have an engineering degree and run my own company,” he said.

The winner, who loves ‘Ofada rice and beef stew’ also intends to invent a flying car to ease the traffic gridlock, especially on Nigerian roads.

Also, Oluwaseun Emoda, one of the contestants in the competition disclosed that his greatest ambition was to invent a cheaper means of generating electricity for the benefit of Nigerians

The 16-year-old Senior Secondary student of Scholars Universal Secondary School, Ota, Ogun State emphasised that cheaper electricity would give a lot of Nigerians access to abundant power to live decent lives.

Aside inventions, Oluwatunmise Idowu, a 13 year-old student of Scholars Universal Secondary School, Ota, Ogun State, stunned the organisers of the competition with her record-breaking performance in one of the preliminary rounds.

Idowu, daughter of a Mathematics teacher, answered 17 questions in one minute in her “60 seconds of fame” to beat the record of 10/60 seconds set in the competition last year.