VOA教育报道--每天25美分，贫穷的尼日利亚人就可以接受STEM教育

For 25 Cents a Day, Poor Nigerians Get a STEM Education

Nigerian students who want to escape poverty can learn science, technology, engineering and math, or STEM, for the cost of 100 naira, or about 25 cents, a day.

Faridat Bakare is a 12-year-old student at Knosk Secondary School in Abuja. She started in the school in 2020, a year after it opened. She wants to be an engineer.

In a technical lab at the school, she shows a design for a solar-powered car made from cardboard for her class project.

"I want to become an electrical engineer who works with robots and solar panels and all the connections of all the snap circuits and ... things like that," said Bakare. She lives with her mother and four siblings² in a poor neighborhood in Abuja.

Knosk School runs largely on donations. The school currently has 82 students, but is expanding each year. School officials visit each family to establish whether they can pay for the cost of education. The amount could be as high as $159 for a term.

Irene Bangwell, the founder³ of Knosk, is a former teacher. She said the idea of a science high school for poor children came to her eight years ago. At the time, she took her child to a hospital and heard a cleaner there telling another patient that her young daughter was also a cleaner instead of being in school.

Bangwell added, "When we decided⁴ to run the Knosk School, we had to ask ourselves what kind of education does (a) poor man's child need to break out of poverty."

She says she plans to set up more such schools in Nigeria.

At least 10.5 million children in Nigeria do not attend school. The United Nations said in January that is the highest rate in the world. Most affected⁵ are girls, children with disabilities and those from poor families.

Students at Knosk spend 75 percent of their time studying STEM. When they finish their studies, each student has to develop a design of something they can use or continue to develop after school. For the cost of 25 cents a day, students are given clothes, books and food.

Fausat Bakare is Faridat's mother. She believes her daughter's education at Knosk will help the family.

"I believe that she will wipe away my tears, all my suffering will end through her," Bakare said from her home as she selected cassava, a local vegetable, to sell at a market.

Words in this Story

solar - adj. producing by using the sun's light or heat

cardboard - n. stiff and thick kind of paper used for making boxes

snap circuits - n. pieces or parts that easily fit together

sibling¹ - n. a brother or sister

1 sibling   

n.同胞手足(指兄、弟、姐或妹)

参考例句：

• Many of us hate living in the shadows of a more successful sibling.我们很多人都讨厌活在更为成功的手足的阴影下。
• Sibling ravalry has been common in this family.这个家里，兄弟姊妹之间的矛盾很平常。

2 siblings   

n.兄弟，姐妹( sibling的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A triplet sleeps amongst its two siblings. 一个三胞胎睡在其两个同胞之间。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• She has no way of tracking the donor or her half-siblings down. 她没办法找到那个捐精者或她的兄弟姐妹。 来自时文部分

3 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

4 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

5 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。