By Zubairu Idris
Katsina State Government has organized a workshop for Mathematics teachers in Secondary Schools to address poor performance in the subject, especially during final and external examinations.
The State Commissioner for Basic and Secondary Education, Hajiya Zainab Musa-Musawa, said during the opening ceremony of the workshop on Saturday in Katsina that it was part of the “war against poor performance in Mathematics.”
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the theme of the workshop was: ‘Enhancing teaching and learning of Mathematics in the era of Information and Computer Technology (ICT)’.
Represented by the Director, Schools, Senior, in the Ministry, Hajiya Raliya Yusuf-Jiba, the commissioner said that it had been noticed that nowadays, Mathematics was becoming difficult to the students.
She said, “At the end of the programme, it is expected that the quality of teachers would improve and begin to see changes with regards to the performance of students in Mathematics, especially in the final and external examinations.”
The commissioner revealed that the workshop would focus mainly on lesson plan, new curriculum in Mathematics and the use of the new technology, Artificial Intelligence (AI).
In his remarks, the Coordinator, Katsina State Mathematical Improvement Centre, Alhaji Tanimu Nalado-Kankia, said that professors and experts in the subject had been invited to deliver papers at the workshop.
He said that the workshop began with about 350 participants from Katsina Senatorial Zone, adding that similar workshop would be replicated in Daura and Funtua Senatorial Zones.
Nalado-Kankia said that the resource persons would be monitoring the teachers by conducting an online test to them while at home to assess their understanding.
According to him, at the end of the programme, mathematics teachers would be able to use the new curriculum, and master the use of recommended textbooks, pointing out that this would address ‘the issue of skipping topics’.
“The teachers get the general methodology of teaching all topics in Maths, such as integration, differentiation, as well as matrices and determinants, among others,” he said.
Also speaking, one of the resource persons, Prof. Mamman Musa-Kogari, said he was the one who developed the new curriculum in the subject which was about to be launched.
He explained that the workshop had given an opportunity to share knowledge on the new curriculum even before its launching nationwide.
Musa-Kogari advised Mathematics teachers to keep on improving their knowledge and encourage the students to develop interest and love for the subject.
“Mathematics is a very simple subject because it deals with facts,” he said
The Professor further urged the teachers to focus on drilling the students on skills and accuracy while solving questions