A Student of Hallmark Secondary School,
Ondo, Titilayo Adewale, has emerged second in the maiden Pan -African
Mathematics Olympiad for Girls.
Adewale, 16, was one of the four girls
who represented Nigeria at the competition, which held at the National
Mathematics Centre, Abuja, recently.
For their efforts, Adewale and other
finalists were awarded scholarships by the Moroccan Government to study
in any of its universities.
According to the Director and Chief
Executive, National Mathematics Centre, Prof. Adewale Solarin, the
competition was initiated because girls were not competing favourably
with the boys in Mathematics.
“It does not mean that they are less
intelligent, but we have observed a trend. Only 50 girls were among the
556 contestants from 104 countries that participated in the
International Mathematics Olympiad in July. It had been a trend that
girls were not competing favourably with boys in Mathematics. That was
why many regions of the world initiated the competition for girls to
compete among themselves. However, the quality of the questions is the
same,” he said.
A Student from South Africa, emerged the
winner of the competition. Other countries which participated include
Tanzania, Mali, Tunisia, Ghana and Burkina Faso, among others.
An SS2 pupil, Adewale came tops among
9,000 girls who sat for the preliminary contest to represent Nigeria
from different parts of the country.
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