MINISTER of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony said yesterday, that the Indian Science and Technology Exhibition, which closed on September 30, was a success.

He told a press conference, at his Main Street, Georgetown office, that over the six weeks period, approximately 31,100 persons visited the show and it was a significant number when compared to the 51,000 which paid visits when the exhibits were shown in Trinidad for a longer period of time.
Anthony reported that there was an average of 775 persons visiting the Cliff Anderson Sports Hall venue, also in Georgetown, daily, while, in Trinidad, the visitors were about 718 per day.
He said the target audience here was, primarily, schoolchildren and teachers and, of the 31,100 visitors, 80 percent of them were the former and their teachers from schools around Guyana.
The Ministry of Education, through its various networks, was able to organise tours for children on specific days and Minister Anthony thought that was a very commendable thing, because the teachers were there with them and they would have incorporated some of the things they are doing in their syllabus.
He also said, although people visited from almost all the Administrative Regions of Guyana, the majority were from Regions 2(Pomeroon/Supenaam), 3(Essequibo Islands/West Demerara),4 (Demerara/Mahaica),5 Mahaica/Berbice),6(East Berbice/Corentyne),10(Upper Demerara/Berbice).
Fun ways
Anthony said people did not just visit the exhibition to look around but they were able to participate and interact and, as a result, able to learn about different things in fun ways.
“We wanted to demonstrate certain scientific principles and we had special persons there who talked to the students, explained the experiments and then demonstrated them and got feedback. So, in a very interactive way, we were promoting learning,” he pointed out.
Another highlight of the showing, Anthony said, was the accompanying Mathematics and Physics workshops, which have now finished and the teachers who participated are expected to relay the teachings they received to others who were not able to attend.
He emphasised that he is not saying the exhibition was a success based on mere assumption but on scientific evidence to prove it, since a questionnaire was used to solicit views from different people about it.
The Minister said the preliminary results of the completed questionnaires are quite favourable and will be released.
“The preliminary results have been showing that people are clamouring for more of this, so we at this ministry are extremely pleased that we have been able to host this exhibition and that the general public is, indeed, very pleased by what they saw,” he said.
Anthony said the authorities are now encouraged to explore other opportunities that might exist with India and possibly other countries for initiatives of the sort.
Furthermore, he said they are also thinking of establishing a permanent science centre locally and India has offered to provide technical and other advice to help with the establishment.
He also took the opportunity to thank the Government of India and, particularly, the National Council of Science Museums and the Ministry of Culture in that country, as well as the institutions in Guyana which contributed to the exhibition being successful.
Some of those to which thanks were offered are the University of Guyana (UG), the Institute of Applied Science and Technology (IAST), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Ministry of Education and the Guyana Learning Channel.
In addition, he also commended the Guyanese volunteers who worked daily at the Sports Hall, in various roles, such as conducting and explaining scientific demonstrations.
The Indian Exhibition entitled ‘India: A Culture of Science’ commenced on August 20 and was shown daily until last Sunday.