Pages

Sunday, 22 January 2017

SAF Director : People’s Perception about Science is Our Biggest Problem


 


The Country Director of Science Ambassadors Foundation (SAF), Mrs Nnabugwe Hope, lamented that people do not see science as a lucrative business in Nigeria, thereby affecting awareness and programmes the foundation has planned to promote science

Mrs Hope, who is also a researcher at National Centre for Energy Efficiency and Conversation, said “When you go out to seek for partnership, or funding it looks like why science, why not fashion, why not football and it beats my imagination to imagine that knowledgeable individual knows that science and technology is the bed rock of national development and then you see a STEM movement and you are saying why not fashion, why not football.”

She added the problem prompt volunteers of SAF to come up with a project tagged ‘Street Storm’ to create more awareness and seek sponsorship for various projects the Foundation wants to undergo.

On how to integrate the SAF project to achieve success, she mentioned that “Science Ambassadors Foundation has a youth community that has started this movement, we are going to start with a Street Storm during the Matriculation and we also have a major event on the 25th of May where we intend to set a world record where we create science in a fun way for both teachers and students and the general public. Where you can come to learn the importance and applications of science (hand-on science) not just theoretical science and not necessarily with laboratory wares.

 

“You see us teaching with household equipments, with things that you can pick up on the road for us until you are able to communicate what you have learnt to your grandparents or children or parent in the most pragmatic way that’s when we can say that this information has been converted to knowledge in you.

“So we use the most persuasive means, so we use the most informative means, the most fun way to communicate our programme, and learning activities to the audience. We have a radio programme every Saturday where we engage our audience with fun ways of learning sciences and the products that are coming out.”

To help build innovators and scientists in Nigeria, she said SAF has initiated an “enterprise hub where our brand ambassadors are come with their innovative ideas and we look at how to fund viable products and we push it out to the market”.

 In addition to this, the Teachers’ platform of SAF, where partners of the foundation who happen to comprise of Science and Engineering Faculties lecturers, provide training for teachers and also mentoring other people.

More so, she requested the Ministry of Education to champion the course by reviewing the policies and should stop making other sciences an alternative to medical sciences.

She illustrated the reason for her point by saying “Practical is practical, practical means it is handsome, there cannot be an alternative to practical. You are either driving or you are not driving, so somebody cannot come to you and say alternative to driving is for you to sit down and imagine that you are driving. They can review the policies, they can review the curriculum especially the practical aspect of science education, they can also champion some of this project that the foundation has put together because we have written to them for principal partnership and we are hopeful that we can all work together.”

Science Ambassadors Foundation is advocacy organisation for Science Technology Engineering Mathematics (STEM) in Nigeria and they are proposing to break the Guinness Book of Record in early this year which will also be the 50 years celebration of Lagos State. The record breaking event will see 5000 students across secondary schools in Lagos gather for science innovating experiment and talks.

 

 
 

AIT PROGRAMME SCHEDULE









DURATION
MONDAY
06:00 - 06:30
KAAKAKI
06:30 - 07:00
KAAKAKI
07:00 - 07:30
KAAKAKI
07:30 -08:00
KAAKAKI
08:00 - 08:30
KAAKAKI
08:30 - 09:00
KAAKAKI
09:00 - 09:30
EKITI RESTORATION
09:30 - 10:00
RESTORATION SERIES
10:00 - 10:30
FOCUS NIGERIA
10:30 - 11:00
FOCUS NIGERIA
11:00 - 11:30
THE MONEY SHOW
11:30 - 12:00
THE MONEY SHOW
12:00 - 12:30
AIT REPORTS
12:30 - 1:00
AIT REPORTS
1:00 - 1:05
SPORTS EXTRA
1:00 - 1:30
SPORTS EXTRA
1:30 - 2:00
THE LOVELYNCLAIR SHOW ®
2:00 - 2:30
GLOBAL BUSINESS
2:30 - 3:00
GLOBAL BUSINESS
3:00 - 3:30
MATTERS ARISING
3:30 - 4:00
MATTERS ARISING
4:00 - 4:30
WORLD NEWS
4:30 - 5:00
CARTOON
5:00 - 5:30
CARTOON
5:30 - 6:00
CARING HEART
6:00 - 6:30
SPORTS TODAY
6:30 - 7:00
SHAKATAWA
7:00 - 7:30
DOCUMENTARY
7:30 - 8:00
ALLISON'S STAND
8:00 - 8:30
AIT NEWS HOUR
8:30 - 9:00
AIT NEWS HOUR
9:00 - 9:30
VIEWS & TUNES
9:30 - 10:00
GOGE AFRICA
10:00 - 10:30
FOREVER YOURS
10:30 - 11:00
FOREVER YOURS
11:00 - 11:30
BISI OLATILO SHOW
11:30 - 00:00
BISI OLATILO SHOW
00:00 - 00:30
AIT MIDNIGHT NEWS
00:30 - 01:00
HOME VIDEO MOVIE
01:00 - 01:30
HOME VIDEO MOVIE
01:30 - 02:00
HOME VIDEO MOVIE
02:00 - 02:30
LIVE BEATS ®
02:30 - 03:00
SPORTS TODAY ®
03:00 - 03:30
FOCUS NIGERIA ®
03:30 - 04:00
FOCUS NIGERIA ®
04:00 - 04:30
FOREVER YOURS ®
04:30 - 05:00
FOREVER YOURS ®
05:00 - 05:30
OREMUS (HOLY ROSARY)
05:30 - 05:45
OREMUS (HOLY ROSARY)
05:45 - 06:00
A LIGHT FOR THE NATION
- See more at: http://www.aitonline.tv/schedule#sthash.x4VNEgmy.dpuf
- See more at: http://www.aitonline.tv/schedule#sthash.x4VNEgmy.dpuf