By Adesina Wahab
Many secondary school students are discouraged from studying Mathematics and some other science subjects due to wrong answers they get when they use fake calculators to solve mathematical problems, the General Manager, Casio Japan, Koji Shinjo, has said.
He stated this at the weekend in Lagos during an interactive session the company had with its distributors, dealers and retailers across Nigeria.
Shinjo, who said with over 1.7 million young Nigerians being enrolled for secondary school education annually, the country ought to get a large chunk of the figure interested in studying sciences that would support the technological take off of the country.
“Unfortunately, most students feel frustrated when they use fake calculators to try to solve mathematical problems and end up getting wrong answers. From research, only about seven percent of students in Nigeria are using genuine Casio calculators, despite the fact that over 80 percent of them want to use genuine Casio calculator.
“Because we don’t want students to be discouraged in studying Mathematics and science subjects that is why we have embarked on sensitising the general public about how to identify fake calculators and also encourage our dealers, retailers and others on how to push the market further for Casio,” he said.
Speaking in the same vein, Education Specialist, Casio Japan, Koichi Danjo, who demonstrated ways to identity fake calculators, opined that no effort should be spared in getting fake calculators out of circulation.
“Fake calculators will give wrong answers leading to failure by the student, it will even take more time to provide that wrong answer, leaving the student frustrated,” Danjo stated.
Also speaking on the occasion, the Managing Director of SKLD Integrated Services Limited, the major distributor of Casio calculator in Nigeria, Temilola Adepetun, said the relationship between her company and Casio Japan started in 2018, and that Casio has been giving back to the Nigerian society.
“The company has trained over 3,000 teachers in Lagos in different areas. Also, it has donated a Casio Laboratory to the Lagos State government and played active role during the state’s programme on education held early this year,” she said.
The Deputy Managing Director of SKLD Integrated Services Limited, Tayo Osiyemi, added that there was need to educate Nigerian students and the general public about the damage using fake calculators do to the education system.
Dealers and retailers from across the country who were at the event lauded Casio Japan for the quality of its products and promised to expand the market for the company.
