Milk processor Brookside Dairy has held athlete contest in Ribe Boys Secondary school in Kilifi County, aimed at improving learning outcomes in secondary school mathematics.
Brookside marketing manager Peter Wasonga said the initiative is meant to encourage students to excel in mathematics and other science subjects in secondary schools in the country.
Speaking to the press at the school, Wasonga underscored the need to debunk the myth among learners that mathematics is a difficult subject.
The Brookside official said mathlete contest will help students to develop problem solving skills, besides acting as a booster subject for overall good performance at the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations.
He said in an attempt to help secondary school students like mathematics Brookside has come up with the competition among the learner across the country to help in demystifying the subject.
He said the winner will walk away with cash prizes of Sh200, 000 while the first runner up and second runner up will take away Sh100, 000 and Sh50, 000 respectively.
Wasonga said Brookside would also award the top boy and girl with a university scholarship to enable them pursue mathematics related degree courses at Strathmore University in Nairobi.
He said nationally, the overall winners will have won themselves degree scholarships to study at Strathmore University, which he said is the ultimate mathlete prize.
Ribe School principal Benson Manoo said they were excited to have hosted the event being held for the first time in Kilifi County.
He hailed Brookside for the initiative saying it will go a long way in motivating students to work hard and perform well in mathematics and other science subjects like physics and chemistry.
Manoo, himself a mathematics teacher, said there is need to demystify and change the negative attitudes students have towards mathematics yet it is applied in everyday life.
He commended brookside for organizing the math contests around the country saying it will help change negative attitudes towards mathematics and that students will eventually find the subject pleasurable and gratifying.
The principal challenged students to undertake regular practice in mathematics as a means of improving their mastery of numeracy skills.
Elizabeth Mwakera of St. Mary Girls High School in Taita Taveta and Lucky Tuva of Ribe Boys has lauded the Brookside initiative saying it will help learners overcome the fears they have of mathematics.
They said the Brookside competition has been giving students from various schools in the country opportunity to interact and solve mathematics problems together.
By Hussein Abdullahi
