The resurgence of interest in a National Science and Technology Policy

Feb 05, 2011 Letters

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DEAR EDITOR,
It was reported (Kaieteur News, 20-01-11), that the aim of a recent workshop was to develop a framework for a National Science and Technology and action plan for innovation towards socio-economic development in Guyana.
What is a bit disquieting is that efforts in this area have been ongoing since 2009…Yet, this is the first report of these efforts that I have observed in the press. Records of the previous attempt at the development of a National Science and Technology Policy in the mid-nineteen seventies might have provided more “grist for the mill”.
The rationale behind this latest attempt at the development of a National Science and Technology Policy is “that Guyana is yet to accelerate the installation of a knowledge society, although this is the goal expressed in recent development plans. It was felt that improvement of the country’s capability in Science and Technology will accelerate this task. For this to happen, the country’s research and development capacity will have to be deepened, expanded and energized, to gain targeted skills to address local issues, and develop capabilities to identify, select, transfer foreign scientific insights and technological methods”.
No mention is made as to how the above will be accomplished. However, some prescience is essential.
Whatever is done in the short-term must bear some congruence with medium and longer-term plans.
Put another way, the first step in our quest, must have the ultimate goal in sight. Plans or actions, which yield short-term economic benefits, cannot be isolated from the spectrum of the implantation of science and technology in the cultural, social and economic life of the Guyanese nation (to wit: the installation of a knowledge society).
The task ahead is monumental, but not impossible. A brief account of what has transpired since the first attempt at the development of a National Science and Technology policy 30 odd years ago, is sufficient to give us an idea of the huge task ahead.
Since the 1970’s, Guyana has been denuded of most of her qualified scientists and technologists. The effect of this has been that little or no scientific or technological research has come out of the University of Guyana over the past 30 years.
The physics department in the Natural Sciences faculty has remained closed for a considerable period of time. In addition Prof. Kunar cited the limited research facilities equipment on the campus.
The transfer and dissemination of knowledge is one of the fundamental purposes and responsibilities of a university. And with the growing complexity and interconnection of societal problems, there is an increasing need to synthesize the findings from the disciplines. Knowledge has to be made useful.
For every scholar engaged in basic research there will be an increasing need for several others to be engaged in its synthesis. There will also be the need for the effective transmission of this synthesized and aggregated knowledge, to disseminate it directly to potential users technical assistance, applied research, policy-analysis activities, and through public information.
The same can be said for the National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI), and the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST).
Guyana, in a scientific and technological context, is much further back than she was in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Whatever development gap there was in the 1970’s has now widened into a chasm. However, this chasm need not become an ocean. But, we ought to realise that we are in for an extremely long haul. We have to become creative, innovative and risk-takers. We have no choice.
We ought to bear in mind that the focus of the workshop held recently on the University of Guyana Berbice Campus, was among other things: “to develop …a action plan for innovation towards socio-economic development…”, and to accelerate the installation of a scientific or knowledge making society in Guyana. The word “scientific” has two Latin roots: scientia, meaning knowledge, and, fic from facere, meaning to make. A basic function of Guyana’s National Science and Technology Policy must be scientific and technological manpower development. Guyana can lead by example, rather than waiting to follow what first obtains in the Caribbean.
Two faculty members, Marlyn Ramjeet-Samad and Prof. L. Kunar have pointed to what might be the best and, perhaps, the only lasting way forward. Since the school is the only institution through which all Guyanese must pass, why not use science to educate children from kindergarten up? Again, I take the opportunity to remind our decision makers in education: “what you want the nation to be, you must first put in your schools”.
This is where the National Centre For Education Resource Development (NCERD) ought to be in the vanguard.
The Curriculum Development and Instructional Unit (CDIU) must take up the challenge of developing relevant and appropriate curricula for the various levels of the school system that have the potential to “accelerate the installation of a knowledge society”, and assist in the implantation of science and technology in the cultural, social and economic life of the Guyanese nation. Creativity and innovation must become the watchwords
In concluding, I wish to emphasise the following: a) there is need for better communication between all stakeholders, including the public. It facilitates feedback, which is important; b) there must be adequate representation of the Social Sciences in the National Science and Technology Policy development process. Since National Science and Technology Policy will have implications for various sectors, then some kind of “generic” literacy should exist if credibility is to be sustained on all sides; this kind of literacy can be facilitated by, c) the creation of some forum (a Society or Academy of Sciences?) for the exchange, scrutiny, and development of ideas. Ideas generate innovation. And innovation propels socio-economic development.
Clarence O. Perry

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