It was a reversal of rolls last weekend as Promasidor Nigeria Limited, makers of the quality “Cowbell, Our Milk”, celebrated Nigerian teachers with a special edition of Cowbellpedia Mathematics Quiz Show to mark the 2018 World Teachers Day.

Instead of students in the designated corners of the studio answering questions from the quiz master, the episode had teachers in their places while the students cheered from the audience stands.

Twelve teachers, who produced the finalists in the junior and senior categories of the 2017 edition of the Cowbellpedia Mathematics Quiz Show, contested for honours and prizes.

In the junior category, Mr Oluwaseun Makinde of Jesuit Memorial College, Port Harcourt, Rivers State won the star prize. Makinde was the teacher of Oluwafemi Adeyanju, who finished as first runner-up in the junior category last year.

A teacher from Marist Brother Juniorate, Abia State, Mr Thomas Eya was the first runner-up, while Mr Ayorinde Olatunde of Graceland International School, Port Harcourt emerged the second runner-up. Olatunde’s student, Jesse Uche-Nwichi, had won the junior category last year.

Also in the teachers’ contest for the junior category were Messrs Hamzat Dankanawa of Nigerian Tulip International College, Kaduna State; Paul Fase of Graceland International School, Port Harcourt; and Lasisi Abu of Advanced Breed Comprehensive College, Sagamu, Ogun State, whose student, Ezekiel Ekanem was the second runner-up in the junior category last year.

Makinde, with an 11-year experience in the teaching profession, was thrilled to have won the star prize and maintained that the victory had given him the opportunity to appreciate the efforts of his students. “I now know what the students are going through… It is very easy to blame the students for lack of speed and for errors, but I now know it is not that easy,” he admitted.

In the senior category, a teacher from Bibo Oluwa Academy, Ilesha, Osun State, Mr Kehinde Oludare got the crown. His student, Tomiwa Olatunbosun exited in the first round of the final last year.

The first runner-up was Mr David Oluganna of Greater Tomorrow International College, Arigidi-Akoko, Ondo State, who produced Evans Owamoyo, the student that won the third prize last year;

The second runner-up of the teachers’ edition in the senior category was Mr Femi Fashotito of Loyola Jesuit College, Abuja. His student, Munachi Ernest-Eze set record by winning the junior and senior categories in 2015 and 2017.

The other teachers in the line-up were Messrs Olugbenga Otunubi of Federal Government Academy, Suleja, Niger State, while Bello Kolawole of Ambassador College Ota Ogun State, teacher of last year’s first runner-up Oluwanifise Onafowokan, was not present for the contest.

Oludare commended Promasidor for the initiative which he described as a big morale booster for teachers across the country. He added that teaching requires passion, but teaching Mathematics demands a ‘special anointing’ because of the nature of the subject and the misconception by students and parents.

“I am happy to win this. It is a morale booster for me and even to my students. At least, it is evident now that I am giving out what I have because you can’t give what you don’t have,” he told journalists outside the studio.

The students will come back to the centre stage next week as the semi-finals of the Cowbellpedia Quiz Show continues with 36 students jostling for 12 final slots.

To commemorate the 20th anniversary of Cowbell and Mathematics in Nigeria, Promasidor Nigeria increased the star prize in each category by 100 percent to N2 million. Each of the ultimate winners will also be entitled to an all-expense paid educational excursion outside the country, while the first and second runners-up will receive N1.5 million and N1 million respectively.

The teachers of the top prize winners will be awarded N500,000, while those of the first and second runners-up will receive N400,000 and N300,000 respectively.

The 2018 Cowbellpedia Secondary Schools Mathematic TV Quiz is being aired to millions of viewers on DSTv Africa Magic Family Channel, AIT Network and other six television stations across the country.

Organisers also informed schools across the country that the 2019 Cowbellpedia registration portal is now open for next year’s participants.