Remarks as prepared
Ambassador Sarah Ann Lynch
Launch of STEM Robotics Program in Special Education Schools
February 11, 2019, 10:00 AM
National Library Conference Room
Thank you, Ganesh Singh for the introduction.
Honorable Minister Catherine Hughes
Members of the Council
STEM Robotics Program partners
Ladies and Gentlemen
I want to thank the chairperson of Guyana Council of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities, Mr. Cecil Morris, and the entire Council for your role in leading the initiative this event serves to launch.
The U.S. Embassy is honored to have the Council of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities as a partner. We have recently supported the Council’s efforts to ensure voting rights and access to polling stations for people with disabilities. So I commend the Council members for your work on multiple fronts advocating for the equal rights and access for people with disabilities.
I look forward to hearing Deedra Moe speak in a moment and I would like to acknowledge ExxonMobil’s role in funding this entire effort, and for their thoughtful approach in involving the Council of Organizations for Persons with Disabilities as a key partner for the development of home grown science and technology skills here in Guyana.
I’m very impressed by all the partners this project brings together, as we’ve heard today from the speakers representing those organizations.
To the representatives here today from the Guyana Board of Industrial Training, the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, and the University of Guyana, I would like to say that we’re thankful for your involvement in this project and for your dedication to its success.
This project builds on a vision – shared by the U.S. Embassy with the partners here – of Guyana as a prosperous nation populated by a dynamic, skillful workforce, driving innovation in the region, and creating value across all sectors of the economy. That can and will happen, and this project moves us closer.
More specifically, this initiative which, in its initial phase, will see the formation of STEM robotics clubs in four Special Education Schools, works purposefully to ensure that no one, including those children attending special education schools, gets left out of the new opportunities that abound and will continue to proliferate in Guyana.
STEM-skilled workers are among the best positioned to benefit from sweeping changes to economies around the world. Especially here in Guyana, a country that has emerged as a leading oil producer, the future is now. We face the urgent task today of inspiring young students to pursue studies in STEM fields. Robotics clubs are an excellent way to introduce students to programming and engineering, and for training their minds for inquiry and innovation.
Guyana needs scientists, engineers and innovators. I commend the partners here for exercising the foresight to invest in the future of Guyana by investing in the education of Guyana’s children. The vision of the future we want to realize for Guyana must be cultivated, and that is best done wherever there are students with bright, young minds eager to learn.
Thank you.
