Aduragbemi Omiyale
By Aduragbemi Omiyale
More than 17,000 students from across the nation have registered for the prestigious Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) competition, Interswitch SPAK.
The educational contest is organised by Africa’s leading integrated digital payments and e-commerce enabler, Interswitch, to promote STEM subjects in secondary schools.
The programme, in its 5th year, is currently operational in Nigeria and Kenya and was conceptualised by the organisers in 2017 to ignite, promote, and reward STEM interest in young Africans.
It has since drawn over 9,000 schools and over 60,000 students from senior secondary schools across Nigeria, six of which appear in the top 10 rankings of best JAMB results annually.
Of the thousands of interested applicants, the competition has delivered five winners, the most recent of which was historic, as the competition had its first female winner, Orevaoghene Whiskey of Top Faith International School, Akwa Ibom State.
It has merged as a hub that supports the STEM aspirations of young Africans, providing them with a platform to collaborate with other brilliant minds on the continent in a bid to craft innovative solutions to Africa’s peculiar problems.
According to statistics released by the company, the recently concluded registration for Interswitch SPAK 5.0 in Nigeria closed out with 17,139 high school science students enrolled to partake in the National Qualifying Examinations, representing a significant 34 per cent increase over 2022 numbers.
Similarly, in Kenya, where the program is in its 4th year, having commenced a year later than the inaugural edition in Nigeria, registrations for season 4.0 saw a 31 per cent spike over last year.
Business Post reports that this edition will have the winner receive N7.5 million in scholarships for a five-year period, a laptop and monthly stipends.
Interswitch has promised to continue supporting the programme because it believes that STEM education is essential for economic development. STEM research can provide innovative solutions to critical economic challenges in health, food production, infrastructure, the environment, and manufacturing.
The firm has maintained that Africa’s future is mostly determined by young Africans, who are projected to grow to about 42 per cent of the global youth population, according to the World Economic Forum.
