THE Department of Education, Region Four, on Tuesday, opened its biannual STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics) fair at the Golden Grove Secondary School on the East Coast of Demerara. The fair continues today.

The two-day event which saw participants from more than 80 schools in the Demerara Mahaica region was held under the theme “Envisioning the Future through Innovation and STEAM- Decade of Development”. The activity has drawn children from the nursery, primary and secondary levels along with other post-secondary institutions.

Delivering the feature address at the fair, retired Justice Donald Trotman, a resident of Golden Grove, in his address, told the students present that they were tomorrow’s future and persons will be looking to them for solutions to some issues that were sure to confront us in the future.

Further, Justice Trotman said that persons who will attend the fair will have the opportunity to look into the minds of the students, through the projects that were presented.

The former Judge added, that the youths who participated in the fair were positioned to help with Guyana’s development and that their intellectual capabilities and capacities would ensure that the country was positioned to develop as changes occur around us.

Additionally, region four Education Officer, Mr. Loren Park, stated that Guyana was in need of multiple skill sets that fall within the STEAM catchment. Mr. Park noted that, it was because of that, he believed that STEAM fairs would assist the children in their own development.

Further, Park noted that the Fair would allow for the improvement of the cultural capital in schools, while at the same time re-enforcing some skills and the learning of new ones.

It was against that background that Mr. Park opined that Guyana would be led in the future, by some of the ‘finest minds’. He added that educators should encourage more students to pursue studies that were related to STEAM. Various projects were on display from all levels across the education system. There were projects that addressed how to tackle an oil spill, some projects utilized waste wood to make tables and visitors were shown how candle wax and oil were made from a plant and how that process works.