Senior Secondary 2 student of International School, Ibadan, Victor Adetunji, has been crowned Africa’s Maths Champion 2022, Adetunji beat over 10,000 participants across Africa to the title.

For the feat, he earned $5,000 worth of university scholarship at the just-concluded Cruxlearning Mathematics Contest Africa.

Cruxlearning Mathematics Contest Africa (CLMCA) is a pan-African competition where over 10,000 SS2 students from 24 African countries registered for the annual contest through the online platform where qualifying exams was conducted. The top 18 were shortlisted for the second stage of the reality TV Quiz Show designed to demystify mathematics, identify and reward outstanding students for their brilliance in the subject and social skills.

After four weeks in the Mathslounge, the second stage ended with the last six geniuses engaging in a thrilling final encounter with the Dean to determine Africa’s Math Champion. Root- Victor Adetunji emerged the champion with $5,000 worth of university scholarship followed by Alpha- Femi Ositade of The Ambassadors College, Ota in second place, winning $2,500; and Curve- Joyce Onubogu of British Spring College Awka in third place and winning $1,500 worth of scholarship.

The 15-year-old, whose parents are lecturers at the University of Ibadan, was described by his mother as very diligent. She appreciated the organisers of the contest for the honour and opportunity given to her son.

He also acknowledged the impact of the four weeks spent in the Mathslounge on his life, describing the opportunity he had to engage in the various tasks and activities as life-changing for him.

Adetunji said it had gone a long way in helping him develop better social skills, logical reasoning, application of mathematics in everyday activities and also opened his mind to develop solutions to various challenges affecting Africans.

In his welcome address, the Founder of CruxDeals Limited, Oladapo Ojo, reiterated the pivotal role of mathematics as the catalyst for innovations and development in the quest to catapult Africa to the league of digital nations in the world.

“It is our hope that Cruxlearning Mathematics Contest Africa (CLMCA) will increase and heighten the interest of a lot more African youths in the study of mathematics and in so doing, produce the next Albert Einstein,” he said.

He saluted the over 10,000 participants, especially the six finalists, for their performance and assured that the organisers would continue to support the academic development of African children.

CLMCA is supported by Cruxlearning, a safe and convenient eLearning platform that offers teaching and continuous evaluation for primary and secondary school students; Credit Wallet; Chanelle Microfinance Bank; Amaizing Day instant cereal from Flour Mills of Nigeria Plc and African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS), Rwanda.

Chairman, Kwara State Universal Basic Education Board (KWSUBEB) Prof Shehu Adaramaja has said Kwara Government will on May 16 begin its data-driven Education Transformation Project (KwaraLEARN).

Adaramaja announced this in Ilorin, the state capital, saying the programme will commence across 365 primary schools in Baruten, Offa, Ilorin East, and Ilorin West local governments.

Adaramaja noted that KwaraLEARN’s key achievements in operations and technology include the delivery of 4,329 teacher tablets and smartphones; procurement of 250 blackboards; hiring of IT operation teams, set up of teacher tablets and validation of tech applications in schools.

The KwaraLEARN intervention by Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq’s administration is a public education transformation programme to improve teaching and learning using innovative technology, data-driven platforms, high-quality learning materials, effective training and continuous coaching and support for teachers and school administrators.

“KwaraLEARN could not have come at a better time, given the challenges education is facing in Nigeria as captured by a United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report delivered during a recent programme,” he said.

“Starting with governance, the Kwara State Ministry of Education, KwaraSUBEB and our technical partner, NewGlobe, developed a project communication and coordination plan to guide the management of the programme.

“Stakeholder sensitisation campaigns have also happened in the four pilot local governments, with meetings held with traditional rulers, education trade union representatives and Education Secretaries, among others. Today, KwaraLEARN has completed academic field studies in randomly selected schools to learn about teachers’ English fluency and proficiency, pupil oral reading fluency, and foundational numeracy,” he added.

He said the decision to start the project was sequel to the critical achievements the state has earlier recorded in academics, governance, stakeholder engagements, operations, school inspection, technology, job creation, leadership and development.

On the selection of the four local governments for the pilot scheme of KwaraLEARN, Adaramaja said that the local governments were randomly picked due to population from both rural and urban centres to check the outcomes before a statewide operation.

On the first phase of induction training which took place in Queen Elizabeth school Ilorin, the Chairman disclosed that 1,813 teachers and headteachers from across 227 schools in Baruten and Ilorin West LGAs have participated, saying that the second phase will start on 5th of May, 2022, with prospective participants from Ilorin East and Offa local governments.

“The induction training, which is a pivotal element of KwaraLEARN, concludes its first wave today (April 29 2022). Since its commencement on April 19 2022 at Queen Elizabeth School, Ilorin, 1813 teachers and headteachers from across 227 schools in Baruten and Ilorin West LGAs have participated while the second wave of the induction training would commence on the 5th May, 2022 and is expected to have over 1500 participants from Offa and Ilorin East LGAs.

“Our technical partner, NewGlobe has done a tremendous job in ensuring that participants are on the right teaching trajectory by deploying experienced personnel and facilities such as teachers’ smartphones, tablets and applications for the exercise.

“It is worthy of note that the teachers have shown great enthusiasm and a keen interest in becoming a better version of themselves during the course of the training.”