YOBE State Government has sponsored 100 science teachers to undergo one-month training in core subjects at the National Mathematical Centre (NMC), Abuja.
The subjects include mathematics, biology, chemistry and physics.
The State Governor, Senator Mamman Ali, announced this Monday in Abuja while declaring open the course.
He said the move was part of efforts to improve the teaching and learning of core science subjects.
According to him, the state has been performing poorly in WAEC and NECO SSC examinations in those science subjects.
"So, we decided to partner with the National Mathematical Centre to improve the quality of our science teachers, who will in turn improve our performance in national examinations.
"Qualify our teachers so that we can pass NECO exams, we don't want 50 per cent pass. We want 100 per cent distinction, then I will sponsor them to Oxford University,'' Ali said.
The governor expressed happiness with the centre for parading an array of qualified and distinguished professors.
He urged them to impart their knowledge in mathematics and those science subjects to the teachers.
"With the number of qualified professors in this centre, the sky is the limit for Nigeria in mathematics and other science subjects,'' Ali said.
Professor Sam Ale, the Director-General of the centre, said it would continue to collaborate with state governments and other stakeholders to improve the learning of mathematics.
Ale thanked Yobe Government for being the first state to send 100 science teachers to the centre for training.
He said the major problem facing Nigeria was in the area of qualified personnel to man sophisticated equipment.
"Our problem as a country is not in purchasing sophisticated equipment, but in having the personnel to man these equipment,'' Ale said.
Ale assured the governor that the teachers would be drilled adequately on the subjects so that the state could record 100 per cent pass in the national examinations.
Ale said the centre would continue to encourage and support activities aimed at demystifying the phobia in the learning and teaching of the subjects.
He said the phobia had characterised the teaching and learning of mathematics and other sciences at all levels of education.