By Stanley Senya, GNA
Accra, July 17, GNA –The Ghana Science and Tech Explorer Prize (GSTEP) has supported more than 800 pupils at the Basic Education level to deepen their knowledge in Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education.
The support, to harness their skills to meet the fourth industrial revolution, was done through series of workshops and challenge prized activities among Junior High Schools.
Mrs Constance Agyemang, Founder of GSTEP in an interview Ghana News Agency said the foundation was geared to encourage and support Junior High School (JHS) pupils across Ghana to be innovators for the solutions needed to grow Ghana.
The interview followed the induction of 35 JHS teams for the Greater Accra edition of the Ghana Science and Tech Explorer Prize challenge.
She said pupils need to utilise STEM skills to develop ideas into reality to support communities across the nation.
“Young people are the future leaders and innovators; they are the ones going to provide solutions to help Ghana succeed,” she said.
She said investing in these children would enhance their skills, knowledge, mentoring, encouragement, coaching and resources to help them produce innovative ideas and products.
She said GSTEP currently supports students from the Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Eastern Regions, and added that GSTEP intended to support all schools across the country.
“We want every young person in Ghana to have an opportunity to bring their idea forward so that they can be seen as the innovators, leaders and groundbreakers of the future,” she said.
She advised pupils to use STEMS skills to create innovative technological equipment to help serve their communities.
Mrs Victoria Ansah, the National STEM Coordinator at the Ghana Education Service (GES), said the Service endorsed this initiative since it helped pupils acquire knowledge, innovative ideas, and teamwork essential for young pupils.
She said the valuable contribution was vital to strengthening academic discipline as the nation sought to nurture the acumen of the youth in STEM.
Mrs Ansah said STEM education had become the cornerstone for the socio-economic prosperity of many developing countries because it helped to build the ability of the youth to use critical thinking, research, and innovative ideas to solve problems affecting society.
She commended GSTEP for this STEM challenge to help awaken students to produce technological ideas to compete with the western world.
The GSTEP programme seeks to achieve the ambitious goal of impacting the lives of young people over three years to maximise their socio-economic development, prospects, and opportunities for the future.
It seeks to support the development of entrepreneurial products and skills to solve community challenges.
GSTEP consists of a series of challenge prize competitions, where students will be encouraged to develop new business ideas in teams, with support from schools and teachers and will also provide training, coaching, mentorship, and resources to support them.
