Interswitch Group has announced that the fifth annual InterswitchSPAK National Science Competition, which focuses on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) and it’s aimed at young Africans, has kicked off.
The competition is open to all senior secondary school students in Nigeria between the ages of 14 and 17.
It is held in both public and private schools. The goal is to find and help young students who are good at science, technology, engineering, and math so that Africa can build a society based on knowledge and have sustainable growth.
InterswitchSPAK gives students a place to show off their skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) subjects and fight for prizes like university scholarships.
Read also: Data-Lead Africa Foundation Wins Tech Competition for PWDs
Interswitch’s STEM competition awards
Competitors must pass a number of qualifying stages, including online tests and a national qualifying exam, in order to advance to the semifinal round of the competition.
The winners will then fight in a grand finale for the grand prize of N7.5 million in scholarships over five years, a laptop, and regular payments. The second-place winner will get a laptop, a monthly stipend, and awards worth N4 million for three years.
The third-place winner will get a laptop, a prize for one year worth N1 million, and a monthly stipend. There will also be chances to learn from more experienced Interswitch employees and win other fun prizes.
The prize pool for this year’s special edition will be over 14 million naira, which is more than the normal 12.5 million naira. This is because the competition wants to give away prizes to more winners than ever before. With the increase in prize money, more than 100 kids and teachers will be rewarded, not just the top three winners.
InterswitchSPAK will also buy JAMB e-PINS for 54 contestants so that they can sign up for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam for free. These programmes show how much InterswitchSPAK wants to help young people who are good at STEM and give them chances to do well in their fields.
Africa supports STEM education
Mitchell Elegbe, the founder and Group Managing Director of Interswitch, said, “InterswitchSPAK is a celebration of our commitment to supporting STEM education in Africa and empowering the next generation of innovators and problem solvers. As we start the fifth edition, we are happy to have hit this important milestone in the competition. We promise Africans that InterswitchSPAK will give more students on the continent access to high-quality STEM education.
Since this year’s tournament is a commemorative one, it should be more fun and teach more. In the four times the competition has been held, students who have won have gone on to do great things in STEM areas.
Cherry Eromosele, executive vice president of group marketing and corporate communications at Interswitch, said at the start of this year’s National Science Competition, “We are excited to kick off this edition of InterswitchSPAK because it has had a visible impact for the past five years.
“This shows that our main goal is to inspire and give young, creative minds the tools they need to drive progress in STEM and shape Africa’s and the world’s future.”
Oladapo Ojo, founder and group managing director of JustMedia, which is the technical partner of the InterswitchSPAK project, also said, “Working on InterswitchSPAK over the years has been an amazing journey for JustMedia.
“We are proud to be a part of this project, which aims to help high school students in Africa do well in school and learn about science, technology, engineering, and math.” Our team has been fully committed to giving technical support to ensure the success of the competition, and we are excited and looking forward to the fifth edition of this great project.”
InterswitchSPAK was started as a way to get young Nigerians involved and give them the tools they need to become future leaders in innovation. The fact that the programme has stayed the same over the years shows that Interswitch is committed to its goal of supporting STEM education in Africa.