This Mathematician Is Teaching Underprivileged Kids Maths In Igbo & Pidgin

Last year, the Minister for Science and Technology, Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu announced that plans were being made to teach Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects in indigenous languages. But like with most promises the government makes, they disappoint and the citizens are left to make things happen for themselves.

That is exactly what Cynthia Onwuchuruba Bryte-Chinule did. Cynthia is a mathematics teacher in Port Harcourt and she teaches her students the subject in local languages, specifically Igbo and Nigerian pidgin. 

She’s a first-class mathematics graduate of the Nnamdi Azikiwe University and she founded PEEL Initiative, a non-profit organization particularly interested in improving education in Africa especially mathematics and impacting the lives of underprivileged kids through education.

65 million Nigerians are uneducated and an even larger, unconfirmed number do not have a firm grasp of the English language. Should that stop them from getting some form of education? No, and Cynthia seems to think so too. Her initiative runs free tutoring programs for kids: every Saturday she teaches over 40 kids and on Thursdays, she teaches at the Port Harcourt Remand Home.