The National Science Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) Fair made a reappearance yesterday morning and was declared open by Minister of Education, Priya Manickchand.
This year, the fair is being held at the Cyril Potter College of Education, Turkeyen, under the theme “Transforming Education through Innovation and STEAM.”
A release from the Ministry of Education said it has been five years since the last hosting of the event, two of which were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Manickchand said that every day the consequences of COVID are experienced in the classroom such as the learning loss that the country has not recovered from and antisocial behaviour displayed by some students who suffered from the lack of supervision during their formative years.
She said that the Education System responded by delivering education through distance means. This resulted in the printing of worksheets, and the production of television and radio instruction among other initiatives to deliver education in a way that had never been done. Manickchand said that the period taught the Ministry that Guyana has all the resources needed to have a first-class education system.
“You are going to see and you have begun to see a build-out of what is going to be the education system that is resilient to any type of unnatural or natural disaster or pandemics. You’re going to see a continuation and multiplication of students doing well across the world and you going to see statistics that we could only have dreamt of before,” the Education Minister noted.
Meanwhile, Keisa Johnson-Richards, Curriculum Subject Specialist – Science at the National Centre for Educational Resource Development (NCERD) said that this year 177 projects are being presented for judging by schools from across the 11 Education Districts.
She said that this year’s fair is unique since it follows the STEAM Fairs held in the various Education Districts during March. She said that students at the nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary level will share their experiences and make oral presentations at their booths. They will also show the processes involved in the preparation of their projects and how STEAM was incorporated, the release said.
The National STEAM Fair ends tomorrow and is open to the public.
