COWBELLPEDIA unveils mobile app to fight maths phobia

As part of the build-up to its 2016 Secondary School Mathematics Television Quiz Show, Cowbellpedia has developed a multi-level mobile app that will allow students to practice Mathematics questions everywhere with a lot of fun.

Festus Tettey, Head of Marketing, Promasidor Nigeria Limited explained last week in Lagos, that the move was part of measures to stimulate greater interest by students in Mathematics, which is regarded as the bedrock of science and technology. The Mathematics Association of Nigeria, MAN has identified Mathematics phobia as a major drawback for the interest of students in the subject.

This Cowbellpedia Mobile app, according to Tettey, can be downloaded on Google Play Store and Apple Store. He added that this year’s competition will be in two stages: Qualifying Written Examination and TV Quiz Show. The National Examination Council NECO will conduct the Stage One examination according to him on Saturday, March 19, 2016. NECO is an examination body in Nigeria that conducts the Senior Secondary Certificate Examination and the General Certificate Examinations in Education in June/July and December/January respectively.

Under this year’s arrangement, NECO will deploy its massive infrastructure to improve the conduct of the examination across the country. Tettey added that the Stage One of the Mathematics Competition is open to students from 10 – 18 years of age attending full time Secondary Education in both Public and Private Schools in Nigeria. Entry into this competition is FREE.

Each School is required to present their best ten (10) students in Mathematics (five from JSS3 and five from SSS2), irrespective of religion, tribe or state of origin, to enhance their chance of qualifying for the next stage of the competition. According to Tettey, the Stage One registration, which is online, involves visiting www.cowbellpedia.ng

Also speaking on the occasion, Managing Director of Promasidor Nigeria Limited, Mr. Olivier Thiry acknowledged, the support of NECO, state Ministries of Education, school principals and teachers, the press and other agency partners for their continued support for the initiative over the years.

He explained from 2016, Promasidor has taken a strategic decision to bring all Mathematics intervention activities by Cowbell under one umbrella, COWBELLPEDIA.

Thiry also informed that the company has significantly increased the prize money for the finals for both students and teachers. This year he said, the top prize student winner in each category will go home with One Million Naira in addition to other prizes, while the teacher will be awarded Four Hundred Thousand Naira.

“All these improvements are to underscore Promasidor’s effort to provide a credible platform that discovers, recognizes 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,” he said.

In order to encourage the Girl Child Education, Thiry appealed that Mixed Secondary Schools must nominate minimum two (2) girls for each category to represent such school. “This is our own little way of encouraging the girl child to take interest in education especially the STEM courses,” he said.

The winner in each category this year will go home with a cash of One million naira, a medal, a trophy and an all-expense paid vacation. The first and the second runner-up will take N750,000 and N500,000 respectively. There will also be a plaque, mathematics textbooks, desktop computers and printers for the winning schools.