By Ayo Ajayi
In order to catch them young and arouse their interest in political leadership and daily application of Mathematics to every situation of life, the Covenant University Community Development Impact Initiative Committee (CUCDIIC) on Tuesday organised a Presidential debate and Mathematics quiz competition.
The Committee, in conjunction with the Mathematics Department of the University and National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) SDG, CDS Group organised the event among Senior Secondary School students in Ota, Ogun State.
Thirteen schools participated in the competition which had “The Lasting Legacy of Life Matics,” as its theme.
The Chairman, CUCDIIC, Mrs. Aderonke Asaolu, in an interview with EDUTORIAL stated that the main objective of the competition was to sensitise the young ones about various happenings in the nation.
Her words, “They (the students) should be politically conscious right from the secondary school age. The focus of the presidential debate was to assume that if any of the students is the newly elected president, what would be his or her plans for the nation?”
On the theme of the event, Asaolu said that ‘Life Matics’ talks about the direct application of Mathematics to all areas of human endeavour. “Because in every way, we engage Mathematics; it is not just abstract or what we should run away from. When we see it as part of our lives, then we begin to enjoy it even in our classes.”
Mathematics, she said, is the mother of sciences, and could be applied to all areas of human endeavour. “Take for instance the woman in the market, calculating her business to determine what should be the selling cost and her profit, is engaging a form of Mathematics.
“Let’s take another example of a woman who wants to cook soup, she will determine the quantity of water, oil, salt, pepper and spices to add together in order to make the soup taste the way she wants it. That’s in a way is Mathematics. So, when we know that Mathematics is not just abstract, and we begin to associate with it, it becomes life-matics,” she explained.
The Deputy Vice-Chancellor of the University, Professor Akan Williams had earlier declared the event opened. In his remarks, he advised the students to love the subject, expressing the belief that the experience of the day would propel them to a great future.
Also speaking at the event, the Head, Department of Mathematics, Dr. Sheila Bishop, enjoined the students to be determined, focused, practice and attend classes regularly to build interest in Mathematics. She also advised the teachers to make the subject interesting, assure the students that it is the simplest subject as well as prepared as a surgeon that is going for an operation that they could not afford to fail.
At the end of the keenly contested competition, Scholars Universal College, Ota came first in the Mathematics competition while Covenant University Secondary School and Faith Academy came second and third respectively.
In the debate competition, Faith Academy came first with 85.5%, while Covenant University Secondary School and Scholars Universal College came second and third with 79% and 75.5% respectively.
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