The Deputy Volta Regional Minister has called on educationists to leverage on opportunities presented by the Science, Technology, Mathematics and Innovation Education (STMIE) to help make Ghana self-dependent.

Maxwell Quophy Blagodz said the STMIE programme could help nurture and produce a “critical mass of scientists and innovators to usher the country into a future of hope, opportunities and possibilities”.

He made the call at this year’s regional STMIE Camp on the theme: “Science, Technology, Mathematics and Innovation Education (STMIE) - Equipping the Youth to be Relevant in a Ghana Beyond Aid” at Kpando in the Volta Region to usher in about 400 pupils from 17 municipalities and districts.

He said Ghana had been blessed with many natural resources including arable lands, which was meant to make “Ghana a standout country” if its resources had been systematically exploited with value addition before exportation.

Mr Blagodzi noted that though Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana produced about 75 per cent of the world’s cocoa, Ghana earned a paltry two per cent per every one billion dollar of chocolate income while the global chocolate market was worth $131.7 billion.

He, therefore, said the theme for the camp was appropriate to help identify and nurture young innovators who would help add value to the country’s natural resources.

Mr Blagodzi said President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo’s desire to make Ghana self-reliant would not be feasible without industrialisation and the active participation of the youth and called for the support of all in that endeavour.

Enyonam Afi Amafuga, the Volta Regional Director of Education, said Ghana could not afford to ignore the significance of STMIE because it was very critical for the next stage of the country’s development.

She said Ghana could “walk the path of prosperity” by formulating and implementing policies and programmes that diversified the economy to ensure high productivity just like other developed economies, hence the importance of the STMIE.

Ms Amafuga, therefore, called on all stakeholders to support the organisation of STMIE camps at both the district and regional levels.

Comfort Addai, the Headmistress of Kpando Senior High School, advised the youth to reduce leisure time spent on social media and concentrate more on opportunities presented through government’s policies and programmes including the STMIE because they had brighter future, especially in technology, to propel the country forward.

The STMIE camp is to help take out the fear some students, especially girls, have for Mathematics and the Sciences and encouraged them to venture into such fields.