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Interswitch Group, a leading Nigerian Pan-African digital payment and commerce solutions company, is once again set to reward excellence in STEM subjects among secondary school students in the second edition of the InterswitchSPAK National Science competition. The competition, which is targeted at SS 2 students aged between 14 and 17 years, is a CSR initiative of the company.
This announcement was made at a press briefing held on Wednesday, March 6, 2019 in Lagos. The competition which is focused on driving increased interest in the study of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) subjects among Senior Secondary School students across Nigeria will kick off with a national qualifying examination from which 81 finalists will emerge to compete at the InterswitchSPAK TV quiz competition. The InterswitchSPAK programme includes a Masterclass, an Innovation Challenge and a TV quiz competition around STEM subjects.
The aim of InterswitchSPAK is to encourage and guide the students along career paths that will help them achieve full optimization of their potentials and dreams to become inventors or entrepreneurs.
Cherry Eromosele, Group Chief Product and Marketing Officer, Interswitch, encouraged all eligible students to participate and register in this second edition. She noted that the importance of STEM education cannot be over-emphasized in our society; especially considering our current societal challenges.
She said: “At Interswitch we understand that technology is key to solving most of our challenges in Africa. Promoting and rewarding excellence in STEM subjects among secondary school students is our way of preparing the younger generation to take up this challenge”.
Speaking on the registration process, Enyioma Anaba, Group Head, Brands, at Interswitch Group, explained that the competition is open to girls and boys in public and private secondary schools in Nigeria, aged between 14 and 17 years. She further explained that new schools are required to first register on the InterswitchSPAK platform before registering their students, while returning schools can directly register their students. Each such school is expected to register six students each, at least two of which must be girls.
The overall winner will be awarded a five-year scholarship in any tertiary institution, a laptop, a gold trophy and monthly stipends throughout the duration of the scholarship, all totaling N7.5million. The second-place winner will be awarded a three-year scholarship, a laptop, a silver trophy and monthly stipends for the three years totaling N4million; while the third place winner will receive a year-long scholarship worth N1 million, a laptop, and a bronze trophy.
