Kumasi, Aug. 20, GNA- Mr Emmanuel Asamoah Owusu-Ansah, Ashanti Regional Minister, has observed that the country could achieve sustainable development and maintain a balanced economy, if paramount importance was attached to science and technology education. Most developed and rich countries, he said, achieved their status by advancing scientific knowledge and adequately using technology to generate national wealth.

Mr Owusu-Ansah was addressing the closing session of the Ashanti Regional Science, Technology and Mathematics Education (STME) clinic at the Yaa Asantewaa Girls Secondary School in Kumasi at the weekend. Six hundred and thirty junior and secondary school girls selected from the 21 districts in the region participated in the eight-day workshop under the theme, "STME: The Engine of Growth of the Nation". Mr Owusu-Ansah observed that due to scientific and technological bankruptcy, citizens of many developing countries were perishing from hunger and diseases in the midst of abundant natural resources. He said the strength and weakness of every nation depended on the type of education and skills offered to its citizenry and stressed that science, technology and mathematics education was one of the effective investments that could improve the living standards of people. He said it was in this light that the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports had endorsed the idea of constituting science and technology education committees in all the regions and districts to offer appropriate guidance, mobilise and re-direct resources to support STME.

Mr Owusu-Ansah said training programmes would also be organised for the regional resource personnel in science, mathematics, agricultural science and technical skills to upgrade their knowledge. Mrs Belinda Serwaa Addo, the Ashanti Regional Director of Education, said the government was not just interested in providing access to girl's education to reduce dropout rate, but also adequately empowering them to develop their talents and potentials for national growth and development.

She said the clinic had rekindled the interest of girls not only in the STME but also made them to realise that it was only through the attainment of quality education that would enable them reach higher academic levels.

Mrs Addo, however, said in spite of the several clinics, boys tended to do better in science and mathematics in the basic and secondary school levels in the region.

She said the clinic had offered the girls the opportunity to change their negative perception about the science related subjects and hoped they would adopt positive attitude to the subjects. Professor (Mrs) Esi Awuah, the Dean of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), who presided, advised the participants to eschew laziness, immoral practices and other negative tendencies that would affect their future career.