THAT Guyana will need innovative and visionary thinkers in order to be developed is obvious. After all, the world has moved into the ‘era of information and technology;’ the skills required for personal development and national progress are different from those needed during the industrial age, for example.

The fact that the APNU+AFC government is aware of that fact, and, more importantly, is acting on it, is equally obvious. On December 14, 2017, President David Granger charged the graduating class of the Cyril Potter College of Education (CPCE) to focus their energies on serving and loving their country passionately. He said, “[you must] provide education that would include curricula designed to reflect the cultural diversities of Guyana and the disciplines that are necessary to prepare students to deal with social issues and to meet the challenges of the modern technological age.”

As the rest of the world refocuses its developmental agendas to meet the new challenges which the information and technology age will bring, Guyana too must do the same. More specifically, we must instill in the next generation – our future leaders, innovators, visionaries, and thinkers – the skills necessary to solve problems which they will encounter in the new era. In other words, we must teach them how to think, not what to think, and Guyana’s government is doing just that.

The issue of problem-solving in the new era of technology takes on greater significance when one considers that with the information age will come challenges that require logical and critical thinking skills. Traditionally, critical thinking has been defined as, “The process of actively and skillfully conceptualising, applying, analysing, synthesising, and evaluating information to reach an answer or conclusion.” In other words, “Disciplined thinking that is clear, rational, open-minded, and informed by evidence.”

The idea that the thinking process itself is a skill which can be learned and developed has long been recognised by philosophers and scientists. The earliest written records of the idea date back to about 400 to 350 BCE, with the writings of Greek philosopher Plato and the teachings of Socrates.

Plato recorded that Socrates established that persons may have power and high positions and yet be deeply confused and irrational. He demonstrated the importance of asking deep questions that probe profoundly into thinking before we accept ideas as worthy of belief.

With this in mind, government, in collaboration with local and overseas-based Guyanese has thrown its efforts behind one of the most visionary programmes ever conceived by Guyanese: the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) initiative.

The project, proposed and initiated in August 2016, by Guyanese including entrepreneur and technology expert Ms. Karen Abrams, her husband Mr. Leon Christian and their teenage children; social sciences, economics, and legal professional Mr. Colin Sawh, among other Guyanese, quickly attracted the full support of government. Having recognised that Guyanese are entirely capable of conceptualising innovative ideas, First Lady Mrs. Sandra Granger took the lead in helping to move the project forward.

Karen Abrams said, “After [my children] Ima and Asha expressed their interest in a technology camp in Guyana, I shared the idea with the First Lady Sandra Granger during her 2016 trip to Georgia, USA. She immediately loved the idea, and responded that we should contact her again as we got closer to the camp date. As we approached summer 2016, the First Lady reached out to ask for an update. I was amazed at her enthusiasm and willingness to help; her outreach sealed the deal.”

On the face of it, The STEM initiative encourages elementary and middle-school students to pursue computer science, particularly computer programming, by introducing them to code logic. This in itself is a valuable, proactive, and visionary addition to Guyana’s overall education agenda. But there is more; the programme, by teaching Guyana’s next generation how to think logically and critically to solve problems in the science and technology field is simultaneously giving them the skills needed to be leaders and innovators in the new information and technology era.

Since its inception, the STEM programme continues to grow, expand, and diversify; there are now practical training programmes for physics, chemistry, integrated science and information technology among others. With a core focus on developing practical programming, robotics, and scientific skills, the programme is preparing our youth, in all Guyana’s regions, to lead Guyana into the new era by instilling critical thinking skills.

At the Robotics Camp, which was held at the West Demerara Secondary School in Essequibo Islands-West Demerara (Region # 3) in August 2018, the First Lady explained that the purpose behind her robotics camp is to help the young people of Guyana transition seamlessly into the world of work in the age of technology through exposure to STEM. Mrs. Granger said, “[Robotics] is the wave of the future. This is where your jobs will be… The children of Guyana must be on the cusp of this new technology, because they have to share in the progress in this country… The only way they can do that, to a large extent, is through their knowledge of computer science and STEM technology.”

More recently on January 12, the sixth annual STEM conference was hosted by the Volunteer Youth Corps Inc. (VYC) in collaboration with ExxonMobil. The conference saw the participation of over 400 students from Guyana’s high schools.

With numerous companies, corporations, non-governmental organisations, faith-based organisations, individuals, and others now on board, the STEM initiative proves that Guyanese are perfectly capable of charting their own future if they have a government such as the APNU+AFC coalition that can recognise a good idea and make it grow into something that can transform our country’s future.