The Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, says Ghana needs the next generation of engineers for its transformation to avoid allowing the fourth industrial revolution to pass by.
“We need to get the critical mass tenable for our development because we have 60 per cent of our students studying humanities at universities and 40 per cent studying science courses, but it should be the other way round,” Dr. Adutwum said.
He said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo was ensuring that the Education Ministry had the necessary resources to pursue the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) agenda.
Dr. Adutwum was speaking in an interview with the media at the University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR) at its annual Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Festival in Sunyani.
The festival, being the sixth edition of its inception, formed part of activities to mark the university’s 10th anniversary under the theme “10 years of Dedication to Science, Technology, and Arts Education for Sustainable Development”.
Participants were drawn from more than 10 selected basic and second cycle schools in the Bono, Bono East, and Ahafo Regions.
Dr. Adutwum said STEM education was the future for Ghana’s holistic development because nations were being transformed and the industrial revolution made it mandatory and obligatory upon the country to have a critical mass of engineers, mathematicians, and technologists, saying this could only become possible through STEM and creative arts education.
He commended UENR for organising and helping to reach out to students from the high school for them to develop interest in STEM education and pursue courses in science-related courses.
Dr. Adutwum therefore urged other universities to follow suit by instituting a STEM festival to help the country get the next generation of engineers and professionals whose expertise would be needed to transform Ghana.
Professor Elvis Asare-Bediako, the Vice-Chancellor of the UENR, said the festival sought to motivate students through innovative experiments and teaching to consider science courses when pursuing university education.
He said the UENR would ensure the STEAM festival would continue to live by its tenets of instilling in second-cycle students the desire to pursue science-related courses and arts at the universities.
“Parents and guardians would also be encouraged to motivate their children and wards who have the skills in STEM to nurture those gifts to enable them to study STEM-related courses and Programmes at the tertiary education level,” Prof. Asare-Bediako added.
He commended the government and the Ministry of Education for their commitment to promoting STEM and creative arts education for the development of the nation.