Ghana to host All Africa Science and Technology Fair

Accra, June 30, GNA - Ghana in collaboration with the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), would in September 2011, host the first All Africa Science and Technology Fair (AASTF) in Accra.

The five-day bi-annual fair is expected to showcase hidden science and technology talents among youths for development in health, agriculture, education and information technology.

To this end, Mr Joseph Samuel Annan, a Deputy Minister of Education on Wednesday, inaugurated a 27-member National Planning Committee in Accra and urged the members to organise fairs that would unearth talents to spearhead the socio-economic development of Ghana in particular and the African continent in general.

The committee is expected to coordinate the planning and execution of AASTF in consultation with the Minister of Education and participating countries.

Mr Annan said the committee would also set up sub-committees to facilitate the smooth implementation of the programme for the fair, raise appropriate human and material resources and liaise with participating African countries to formulate acceptable judging criteria and adjudicators for the fair.

"The committee shall...solicit sponsorship for the fair, set up experts to oversee the patenting and improvement of the standard of the winning projects, link up with Ministry of Foreign Affairs and embassies to ensure participants obtain appropriate visas and prepare a brochure on the programme and activities of the fair," he said.

Ms Benedicta Naana Biney, Acting Director-General of Ghana Education Service (GES), said participants for the fair would be students drawn from senior high schools, technical institutions, polytechnics, laboratory student technicians, universities, colleges and young science graduates. She said each participating country would be represented by a science project at each level with each project being presented by a developer. Ms Biney said they would be supervised by a chaperon and judges for the fair would be solicited from UNESCO, United Nations Children Education Fund and other foreign donors.

Mrs Georgina Quaisie, Head of Science Education Unit of GES and Chairperson of the committee, expressed the hope that they would not only be able to plan and execute activities to mark a successful fair but also the inventions from the young scientists from Africa would be patented and developed for global use. 30 June