My first Magazine EDUCARE MAGAZINE SPECIAL NOVEMBER EDITION 2019 | Page 7

46 educarelearning
educareprofile
Future leaders learning the importance of STEM
enable innovation have increasingly
assumed determinative influence on
economic development. As a result,
Africa's failure to rebalance its
educational offerings from humanities
and social sciences towards STEM
subjects constitutes the most serious
challenge to its ability to sustain its
current economic growth and be one of
the world's leading continents in
manufacturing and exports.
There are a wealth of comparative
indicators that illustrate how Africa lags
behind other regions of the world in
scientific productivity and knowledge
systems (several examples are available
online at: www.worldmapper.org;
UNESCO.org). Problems with higher
education institutional infrastructure
inputs are also well documented ? these
include issues such as electricity and
water supply, staff shortages and ever-
increasing enrollments due to fast-
growing youth population, research
infrastructure, weak governance and
quality assurance, and the many material
challenges to Higher Education
Institutions in Africa. Recent discourses
about African Higher Education have
tilted towards these material challenges,
and less so the need to correct long-
standing imbalances in the disciplinary
offerings in order to make up for long
delays in developing STEM capabilities
Educare November 2019
Even with prevailing
challenges to higher
education, Africa's current
stock of graduates with
secondary- and tertiary-
level skills is still highly
skewed towards the
humanities and social
sciences, while the
proportion of students in
STEM averages less than
25 percent.
on the continent.
Even with prevailing challenges to
higher education, Africa's current stock
of graduates with secondary- and
tertiary-level skills is still highly skewed
towards the humanities and social
sciences, while the proportion of
students in STEM averages less than 25
percent. After some 16 years of
subsidized public education, these
graduates face unemployment rates of
up to 90% in some instances, while their
countries continue to transfer major
resources to expatriate countries for
construction and maintenance of its
public infrastructures because of the
lack of a competent domestic STEM
workforce; and at the end, the continued
lack of domestic expertise means
African countries cannot maintain their
own infrastructures or develop new
industries, lest they bring back the
expatriates at more cost. For example,
Nigeria requires 51,000 more engineers
in its electric power infrastructure than it
currently produces.
Furthermore, the increasingly
technical nature of many public and
private sector international negotiations
on subjects pertinent to Africa's
development and security ? such as
climate change, trade and finance ?
favours countries that use advanced
scientific knowledge to inform their
positions, further constraining Africa's
position in international affairs and
trade.
African political leadership has yet to
embrace the STEM Education
imperative for transforming African
society with the enthusiasm it deserves;
and policies aimed at addressing Africa's
long-term prospects in STEM need to
be situated within a global context, to
better appreciate all the actors and
forces influencing its development, as
well as the level of attention and effort
required for meaningful progress.
Nations that have developed high
technological capacities understand the
importance of world-class STEM
education all too well, and they are
increasingly strengthening their
scientists and STEM institutions to
build strong reputations and compete
for the best international students,
faculties and resources. These countries
have developed ever-stronger strategies
for STEM education and research, as
measured by their investment levels in
these areas. They are also offering
attractive opportunities, as employers
worldwide are projected to face a
shortage of over 85 million high- and
medium-skilled STEM workers by 2020.
African leaders' increasing vocal
support for STEM on the international
stage has provided a welcome and
much-needed boost for science on the
continent. However, the dangers of
superficiality and short-ter m
approaches threaten the sustained and
long-term planning that is requisite for
Access International Schools
Established in 2004 by Dr. Jonathan Akpan, a widely traveled and seasoned
administrator who has put together a highly competent academic team, with
the usage of standard learning facilities that are second to none at their disposal,
Access International School is equipped to provide a background for children
who are aiming for the top.
A
ccess International School is a
first class educational institution
established with the aim of
providing quality education in a
conducive learning environment for
children, away from the hustle and bustle
of the cities of Lagos and Ogun States
of Nigeria.
It is located on a wide expanse of land
in Magboro-Akeran, a serene and secure
community along the Lagos-Ibadan
Expressway, which is devoid of any form
of pollution that is the lot of our
metropolis today. The aesthetic features
of the school give a pleasant look to the
eye and a warm embrace both to the
pupils and visitors.
Established in 2004 by Dr. Jonathan
Akpan, a widely travelled and seasoned
administrator who has put together a
highly competent academic team, with
the usage of standard learning facilities
that are second to none at their disposal,
Access International School is equipped
to provide a background for children
who are aiming for the top. The entire
above factors is combined to produce a
TOTAL STUDENT through the
adherent and use of a versatile
curriculum that will give the learners a
fair chance to compete with their
contemporaries in the world.
Access International Schools' facilities
include but not limited to well-ventilated
and air-conditioned classrooms
equipped with durable furniture to
accommodate a maximum of 20
students.
There are fully equipped Science
Laboratories for Chemistry, Physics,
Biolog y with inter net-powered
computer facility (one system per
student) for practical teaching and
learning. The school also partners an IT
institute for its students IT certification
on /before the time of graduation. The
school also possesses a well equipped
library and creative art studio that was
specifically put in place to bring out the
hidden potential of the children right
from crèche class to senior secondary
classes.
The school also has a creative arts
studio put in place to bring out the
hidden potential of the children right
from crèche to the senior secondary
school level.
The school libraries fondly called
Einstein Room was created to encourage
a reading culture and to provide general
knowledge on history, science, literature
and nature. It is the ideal of Access
International School to encourage
children between the ages of 5 and 8 to
read a book a week to enhance reading
pattern in our children at an early age,
cultivate an interest in various fields and
accelerates their students learning
process. The Einstein room also
provides ready information by way of
the internet for purposes of research in
study classes and daily homework.
With our well-equipped science
laboratory, our pupils are provided first-
hand experience in proving theories and
for understanding science. We desire to
build young minds trained to enjoy the
wonderful world of science and
encourage future careers in the field. We
have discovered that the great resource
for the future are well-led and nurtured
children, trained with the need to find
out reasons behind every action, for
curiosity has borne a lot of geniuses.
Access International Schools also
serves as centre for various national
examination bodies like SSCE (WAEC),
NECO, GCE and UME (JAMB), Olabisi
Onabanjo University Programmes, as
well as represents Bournemouth
University of UK and Tai Solarin
University of Education.The school also
runs a parents/teachers forum and we
pride ourselves as possibly being the only
7
school in the vicinity with such a forum
twice in a term.
Our Goal
TRANSPORTATION
At Access International Schools, our
fleet of school buses is at the disposal of
the students for every transportation
needs they may have, ranging from daily
shuttle service to and from school for the
day- students, to movement for extra-
curricular sporting events as well as
excursions and other trips. The school
buses are comfortable and air-
conditioned, manned by well trained and
disciplined personnel with bus assistants.
It is our aim to provide the safest, most
efficient service possible for these
leaders of tomorrow. At stake is the
wellbeing of the students entrusted in
our care as we believe in the motto that
"safety is no accident."
We also believe that education should
be a stress-free procedure, and an easy
and hassle-free movement helps to
stabilise the learners mentality and
promote quality education at Access
International Schools Ltd. Access
International Schools is an institution
where individual needs is catered for and
every member of the school family is
valued, regardless of academic ability.
Sound, conventional teaching methods
are employed and standards are high.
The expectation is that every child works
as hard as possible to achieve his/her full
potential. What with our experienced
and very supportive staff, who are high-
flyers. Equally this gesture is fully
extended to children with learning
difficulties.
The computer laboratory is world-
class, tailored to make every user move
with the trend of the current global IT
revolution. It is fully equipped with 24-
hour internet connectivity. There are
enough PC to cater for each student at
the ratio of a PC per student for effective
learning.
The science laboratories are fully
equipped as well for physics, biology and
chemistry. With regular updating of the
learning equipments, we are poised to
make learning a wonderful experience at
Access.
Educare November 2019