By Jacinta Nwachukwu/ Uche Bibilari
Abuja – Mr Olatunji Jekayinfa, Desk Officer for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), says paucity of fund is hindering training of students and teachers in mental arithmetic.
Mental arithmetic training is organised for mathematics teachers and students for easy understanding of arithmetic, using Chinese abacus.
Jekayinfa told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Wednesday in Abuja that inadequate funds hindered achievement of a wider coverage of the programme.
“In Imo State, we wanted to train more teachers and students, but we were only able to train 120 students and 12 teachers within Owerri metropolis.
“We would have wanted to involve all the senatorial districts, but only Imo Central benefitted.
“If you have to bring people from other senatorial districts, you have to budget more funds because the people you are bringing from outside Owerri will be accommodated,’’ he said.
According to the desk officer, the training resulted from researches on why Chinese perform better in mathematical sciences.
“We had so many research work on why an average Chinese child performs better than his peers in international competitions on mathematical sciences.
“We found out that these children are always exposed to mental arithmetic training using the Chinese abacus.
“It is in the quest that we went to acquire the training from them,’’ he said.
Jekayinfa said that the training had so far been conducted in 19 states and the FCT, adding that plans were being made to cover the remaining states.
NAN reports that the pilot programme was sponsored by Federal Government under its SDGs.