ByAdesina Wahab

STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. STEM education helps bridge gaps in learning and helps prepare students for success. The importance of STEM education can be seen in what it does to students. A STEM curriculum helps students develop project management skills. STEM courses, especially technology and engineering courses, often involve hands-on projects. 

Creativity is another important component of STEM education. Just as how our world has finite resources and infinite problems, STEM education helps to proffer solutions to those challenges. It encourages spatial reasoning, thinking, problem solving, and creativity. This helps students to look at problems from different angles and come up with solutions. 

Teamwork is one of the most underrated and important drivers of success. Living and working in the modern world usually requires some degree of collaboration. When students develop soft skills like critical thinking through STEM activities and lessons where it comes naturally, they can help gain the skills they need and it is the first step toward promising jobs of the future, new knowledge, and innovation. 

Therefore, for a company, as part of its social responsibility, to take it upon itself to start promoting STEM education and has done that for five consecutive years,  is a welcome development. The decision of Interswitch, leading integrated payments and digital commerce company, to roll out a competition called InterswitchSPAK, to identify and catch young and talented Africans in STEM education, is a step in the right direction. 

The annual competition, open to all senior secondary school students between the ages of 14 and 17 in public and private schools, aims to discover and nurture young students in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, with the goal of building a knowledge-based society and promoting sustainable development in Africa. It is a platform for students to showcase their academic prowess in STEM subjects and compete for various exciting prizes, including university scholarships. Contestants are taken through various qualifying rounds, including online assessments and a national qualifying examination leading to the semi-finals stage. This is followed by a grand finale where the finalists compete for the ultimate prize of N7.5 million in scholarships for a five-year period, a laptop, and monthly stipends. 

The second-place winner receives N4 million in scholarships for three years, a laptop, and monthly stipends. The third-place winner in turn gets N1 million in scholarships for one year, monthly stipends, and a laptop. There are also mentoring opportunities with senior Interswitch employees, as well as other exciting prizes.

To mark the fifth anniversary of the competition, which was seen as a special edition, the prize pool was increased to over N14 million from the usual N12.5 million, so as to reward more winners than ever before. The increase in prize money saw over 100 students and teachers being rewarded instead of just the top three winners. Also, the company bought JAMB e-PINS for 54 contestants to enable them register for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examinations, UTME. 

Speaking on why Interswitch decided to toe the line of promoting STEM education, the Founder and Group Managing Director of Interswitch, Mr. Mitchell Elegbe, said, “InterswitchSPAK is a celebration of our commitment to promoting STEM education in Africa and empowering the next generation of innovators and problem solvers. As we commence the fifth edition, we are delighted to have reached this milestone in the competition and assure Africans that more students across the continent will have access to quality STEM education through InterswitchSPAK.

“This year’s competition, being a commemorative edition, promises to be more exciting as well as educative. Over the past four editions, the competition has seen remarkable success stories of students who have emerged as winners and have gone on to make significant contributions in various STEM fields.”

Also speaking during the launch of fifth edition of the National Science Competition, Cherry Eromosele, Executive Vice President, Group Marketing and Corporate Communications at Interswitch, said, “We are excited to kick off this edition of InterswitchSPAK particularly because it’s been five years of visible impact. This highlights our focus on inspiring and empowering innovative young minds to drive progress in STEM and shape the future of Africa and the world at large.”

Mr Oladapo Ojo, Founder and Group Managing Director of JustMedia, the technical partner of the InterswitchSPAK initiative, also said, “Working on InterswitchSPAK over the years has been an incredible journey for JustMedia. We are proud to be a part of this initiative which seeks to promote academic excellence and STEM education among secondary school students in Africa. Our team has been fully committed to providing technical support to ensure the success of the competition.”

In a bid to reward more participants in the commemorative edition, the fourth to 24th top candidates also received varying cash rewards up to the tune of N250,000 for their grit, passion and outstanding participation during the finals and semi-finals, premised on the principle that every SPAKster, as they are fondly called, is a winner.

Additionally,  the top 27 teachers in Nigeria and the top six teachers in Kenya received cash prizes in recognition of their efforts in preparing their students and laying the foundational bricks for a bright future ahead.

To let the continental audience see the excitement of InterswitchSPAK 5.0, proceedings were aired on DSTV Africa Magic Family Channel 154 every Sunday at 6:00 p.m, with a repeat  broadcast on Wednesdays at 3:30 pm on the same channel. Additionally, people  were able to watch it on AIT Network every Sunday at 7:30 p.m.

After intense competition, nine finalists emerged for the final held on Sunday, January 21, 2024. They emerged from a pool of 81 outstanding students who were drawn from over 17,000 students who took the qualifying test to be part of the competition. 

The nine finalists included: Best Isijola, from Oritamefa Baptist Model School, Ibadan, Oyo State; Ayobami Ibigbami, from St. Gregory’s College, Ikoyi, Lagos State; Emmanuel Omoegbelaghan from The Crescent International School, Ogun State; Emmanuel Angelo-Hyuwa, from The Ambassadors College, Ogun State and Akinola Mofifoluwa, from The Ambassadors College, Ogun State.

Others were Jesse Obed, from Graceland International School, Rivers State; Abraham Daramola, from Hallmark Secondary School, Ondo State; Otana Agunbiade, from OAU International School, Ile-ife, Osun State, and Raphael Ogwanighie, from St. Finbarr’s College, Lagos State. The finalists exhibited exceptional brilliance across various STEM subjects throughout the highly competitive phases of the show. 

At the end of the competition, Abraham Daramola of Hallmark School won the first prize. 

Abraham received a university education scholarship valued at N7.5 million, spread over a period of five years, inclusive of a monthly stipend plus a brand-new laptop, and the prestigious recognition as the best STEM student in Nigeria. Securing the second and third place positions were Emmanuel Omoegbeleghan from The Crescent International School, Ogun State, and Emmanuel Angelo-Hyuwa from The Ambassadors College, Ogun State, who won N4 million and N1 million scholarships, respectively.

Elegbe, at the end of the competition said, “The InterswitchSPAK initiative is not just a competition but a transformative journey that empowers young minds to envision, pursue and secure a future in STEM, ultimately contributing to innovative initiatives and development in Nigeria and Africa as a whole.”

Now in its fifth year in Nigeria, the initiative has directly reached over 80,000 students in both Nigeria and Kenya, boosting interest in STEM subjects and rewarding excellence in the field of study. This has culminated in $6 million worth of prizes over the last five years being given to students and teachers in Nigeria and Kenya, the prizes stand as a testament to Interswitch Group’s dedication to recognizing and rewarding excellence in STEM education.

Do you think Interswitch is going to rest on its oars regarding the promotion of STEM education in Africa? The answer is No. It hopes to take the annual InterswitchSPAK competition to higher level to reach more young and talented minds on the continent, because at the end of the day, we will all be better for it.