Cape Coast (C/R) Jan 7, GNA - Mr. Isaac Edumadze, Central Regional Minister on Friday pointed out that no single country in the world has succeeded without educating its people, particularly in science. He stressed that not only is education an important element in reducing poverty, but a key for wealth creation.

Mr. Edumadze made the observation at the week-long Zonal Science, Technology and Mathematics education (STME) clinic for 18 students drawn from Junior and Senior secondary schools in the Abura-Asebu-Kwamankese (AAK) and Asikuma-Odoben-Brakwa (AOB) districts under the "STME for Wealth Creation, Physics as a Tool" at Cape Coast.

Mr. Edumadze noted that education contributes immensely to poverty eradication by increasing peoples income, producing better health outcome, empowerment and leverage in life and that ignorance and its associated partner, poverty as a result of low scientific and technological knowledge and application, has "made the African accept subordinate and inferior position".

The Regional Minister declared that it was therefore "divine duty of every nation to ensure that its citizenry were lifted from the shackles of ignorance in this scientific and technological era". He said it was in that regard that the government's developmental agenda was focusing on the training in development of the youth for accelerated socio-economic development of the nation.

Touching on the HIV/AIDS pandemic, he said that the nation needed scientifically-minded citizenry to support education to combat the pandemic, stressing that if the participants appreciated science, they would accept all that scientific research had revealed about the disease and do their best to prevent its spread.

Mrs Janet Ama Lasi, AOB district Director off Education on her part also underscored the importance of science in the creation of wealth and called on all stakeholders to contribute financially towards the promotion on science studies in schools.

Mr Seth Quartey, Assistant Headmaster of St. Augustine College who is the Chief Judge for the Clinic Projects urged participants to provide write-ups explaining how their projects work, adding that most projects failed to attract the required marks because of write-ups. He called on the participants to take the study of science seriously in order to became scientists and contribute to the development of the nation and appealed to the Regional Minister to ensure that adequate funds were provided for the Clinics to enable the participants to add value to their projects.

Mrs. Agnes Boadi-Siaw, the AAK District Director of Education, who chaired the function asked teachers to encourage their students to take the study of Science seriously and the partic ipants to apply what they have learnt by impacting it to their mates.

Asuani Technical Institute, which mounted a project on "Power-guard Step-up Transformer", was adjudged first in the SSS division with Aggrey Memorial Secondary School, taking the second position with a "Solar Toaster" project.

In the JSS division, Abose Obohen district Assembly JSS came first with a device for the preservation of vegetables, Asuansi Agricultural Experimental School second with a similar project and the Breman Eyipey DA JSS, third with a "Windlass Pulley". 07 Jan, 06