Soji Megbowon: The Village Teacher Aiding Retention Through STEM tools.
As a teacher, Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur, Soji Megbowon (2016, Education) had seen students at every educational level with difficulty retaining information. Even with efforts from government and organisations to improve the situation and make learning concrete through curriculum strengthen and the development new and several policies seems not hit the base of this problem. Nigeria for instance, in a bid to improve education has revised the National Policy on Education about three times since it was first published in 1977. The government has also developed different educational structures starting with 6-5-4 to 6-3-3-4 to the present 9-3-4. All, in order to meet up with the various identified challenges combating the educational system but the Nigeria’s basic education sector is overburdened by strong population growth making all of these efforts have yielded little or no results in improving teaching and learning in Nigeria
However, research has shown that human brain processes auditory messages differently from visual and tactile messages. The brain (memory) stores information in this same manner. Visual and tactile information are stored in a similar pathway making it easier to remember what we see and touch than what we hear, this informed Tony Elumelu entrepreneur (2016) Soji Megbowon to set up Calculus EDUaids. Calculus EDUaids, is a Social Enterprise at the forefront of improving the quality of education in Nigeria and promoting inclusiveness and equity via the Research, design, and distribution of curriculum-based learning aids/instructional materials to schools across all subjects helping to simplify the learning process through the production of digit and literacy game board for primary school students and delivery of our audio-visual learning aids through DVDs for schools with technological gadgets.
Driven by his passion for teaching, Soji and his team of ten have grown from just a business to a social enterprise as they have recently launched TEENPRENEURS HUB, a leadership incubation, STEM education and entrepreneurship centre that trains and empower teenagers and other young people from his host community – Abesan, Lagos, Nigeria to become transformational leaders and solution providers through our holistic education model. Since the establishment of the HUB, the space has trained over 60 students on skills relating to science, technology, engineering, mathematics, leadership, cake making, coding, fashion designing, photography/videography, hair making etc. This training is delivered to the students at a much-subsidised rate or no cost through the sponsorship support we received from corporate and international organisations.
For Soji, this growing stand of Calculus EDUaids in the education sector started since he became a Tony Elumelu Entrepreneur he says “TEF has helped my businesses to scale from cradle to an international brand with so much attention from International agencies in the education and technology space willing to partner and work with us. The 12 weeks mentorship, training received from the foundation is a life changing experience for us. Issues relating to branding, business registration, recruitment/compensation and tax matters which could have ordinarily cost me a whole lot was earned as a privilege because of the training received.”
Calculus EDUaids work has not gone unnoticed as Soji and his team have recorded some business breakthrough ranging from local and international partnership including the WESTERN UNION UK, CHAIN OF BETTERS AWARD to supply learning aids to public schools in Lagos Nigeria and train 50 teenagers on coding, Ford foundation award for learning aids and audio-Visual aids supply to public schools in 2 communities in Lagos, Nigeria and DFID DEEPEN Nigeria to supply learning aids, audio-visual aids, open-learning source (website) and game boards to private primary schools in Lagos state.
Soji’s next phase of expansion involves the use of mobile HUB to access communities who don’t have access to computer literacy and making EDUaids products available to others states in Nigeria and by extension to the larger African market.
Soji and his team can be reached: www.calculus-group.com, Facebook: www.facebook.com/calculuseduaids, www.facebook.com/teenpreneurshub, Twitter and Instagram @Calculuseduaids, @Teenpreneurshub and on phone: 2347063576911, 2348078217393,
