Nust in mathematics teaching drive in Matabeleland

THE National University of Science and Technology (Nust) has embarked on an extensive exercise to teach pupils in the Matabeleland region mathematics in order for them to qualify for enrollment at the university.

In an interview recently, the deputy Provincial Education Director for Bulawayo Mr Emmanuel Sheunesu Mugomba said they partnered with Nust to improve the pass rate in Matabeleland and create interest in the subject.

"Bulawayo and other provinces came into partnership with Nust in terms of teaching mathematics subjects in schools. It's an endeavour to create interest in the subject so that pupils pass and can be enrolled at Nust.

"We embarked on this programme last year and it yielded good results. Selected pupils were going to Nust every Saturday from 9 to 3pm. The programme also involved untrained and temporary teachers who had no mathematics and they all managed to pass and now they are qualified teachers," he said.

Mr Sidney Sibanda, an education inspector who was representing Matabeleland South Provincial Education Director Ms Thumisang Thabela expressed optimism about the project as it had improved the pass rate of a number of schools in the province.

"The programme is very effective and from its inception last year quite a number of students have excelled in mathematics. Right now we are planning to involve science subjects," he said.

The Deputy Provincial Education Director for Matabeleland North Mr Jabulani Aggrey Nyathi praised the programme as it has assisted quite a number of pupils.

"I am happy about this programme because last year we sent seven pupils from Binga High School and all of them passed mathematics where we had four As, two Bs and one C.

"We included temporary teachers realising that there is a shortage of qualified maths teachers in the region most of whom have gone to neighbouring countries and they managed to pass," he said.

"This programme has assisted quite a number of disadvantaged pupils because they won't be able to pay for the holiday crash programmes. We are working within the boundary of the gender policy by making sure that more female students are participating in this exercise."

The project manager for the programme Dr Senelani Hove Mutsekwa said the programme was aimed at enriching students and demystifying the subject so that students realise that mathematics is a very critical subject.

"The programme is about enriching students and demystifying the subject so that students realise that maths is an important subject. Nowadays you cannot be employed without maths and at Nust it's a prerequisite to have this subject.

"We want to introduce new skills to the teaching of mathematics in Matabeleland schools and then eventually the whole country. I am not satisfied with the enrollment of pupils especially for applied maths and physics as there are less female students and we need to change that by involving a number of female students in this exercise," she said.

Dr Hove Mutsekwa said they were in need of funds to ensure that the programme was more effective.

"We urge stakeholders to chip in and assist with funds so that we can be very effective. Currently we are using the Nust funds which are not adequate enough and teachers are only given a token as their payment, so we need a lot of support financially," she said.

The institution's director of information and public relations Mr Felix Moyo said the programme was designed to assist pupils from different schools in the three provinces in order to improve their pass rate and have more students in universities.

"Having seen the gap that exists in secondary school in the teaching of mathematics and science subjects we designed this programme which has been running since 2011 for O and    A-level students and in some instances in the rural areas even to untrained teachers," he said.

The chairman of the department for Applied Mathematics at Nust Mr Philimon Nyamgure said the programme was progressing well.