By Ivy Agbozo:
Dr. Victor Kwame Agyemang, Director General and Chief Research Scientist for the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, CSIR, has expressed misgivings about the fact that science is not being given the priority it deserves.
He voiced out these sentiment when he was giving the Chairman’s remark speech at the durbar held to crown the week-long celebration of the African Scientific Renaissance Day Celebration hosted by the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission at the premises of the School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences last Friday.
According to him, “it is always a pleasure to find out that science drives economic development. The unfortunate thing is that we don’t give science the priority that it deserves. Just about 21 days ago at the National Science and Math Quiz … there was a lot of enthusiasm but the enthusiasm was not because it was about science, it was about competition.”
He added that Ghana is said to have the lowest level of science and mathematics education in the world as revealed by a study conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development, OECD. The focus on science and mathematics per his opinion is extremely low as he realized that science at the graduate level is 22% as against the humanities which has 78%. At the BSc level, he stated that the study of science is 36% as against the humanities which has 64%.
He advised that more emphasis be given to the study of science and math instead of the study of humanities as science is the only tool that can drive economic development in the country.
Source: ritefmonline.org
