THE Ministry of Education, on Thursday, officially launched its first “Tech Expo,” which is aimed at showcasing and exposing students and other persons to technology and how it could be used to improve the education system.

The two-day expo, which is the first of its kind, is being hosted by the ministry’s Innovative Technology Unit at the National Centre for Educational Resources Development (NCERD), under the theme: “Embracing Traditional and Non-Traditional Technology.”

At the launch, Head of the Management Information System (MIS) Unit at the Education Ministry, Yoganand Indarsingh, said that the aim of the expo is to expose students to various dimensions of technology and how it could be used to solve problems and advance development.

The hope is that those persons attending the expo would appreciate the opportunities for technology adoption in the country’s fast-growing economy and also appreciate the role of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) integration into the country’s national curriculum.

Indarsingh added: “For education, we need to embrace technology education in the system and, for that, we are looking at the areas of STEM… for us to embrace this, we need to bring in to our classroom, real world examples, real world applications and appreciation of how scientific discoveries and inventions can play a role in addressing our current needs.”

Meanwhile, Chief Education Officer, Dr. Marcel Hutson, said that the Tech Expo is testimony to the premium that the Education Ministry has placed on technology, as part of plans to establish a world class education system.

Dr. Hutson said: “If you have been listening to our leaders, you would have heard from no less than His Excellency the President, Dr. Mohamed Irfaan Ali, speaking about the need to get to that stage where our education system is world-class and I think that we are on our way.”

The CEO added that the event is a signature one that shows that the country is on its way to developing a world class system.

“We need to come to a point where we will leap into the future, we cannot afford to be left behind as the world is moving. So, if we embrace technology in whatever we do, especially modern technology, we could only reach our destination faster,” Dr. Hutson related.

To this end, he said that technology is an important tool, especially since it could be utilised to increase student engagement.

The two-day expo, which concludes today, features exhibitions from NCERD, the National Agriculture Research Education Institute (NAREI), ExxonMobil, the Guyana Industrial Training Centre (GITC), among others.