GAAS Decries Apathy Towards Science Museum

Dr Leticia E. Obeng, President of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS), yesterday noted that it was unfortunate that the country does not have a National Science Museum (NSM) although its establishment was proposed in 1963.
     
She noted that based on the idea of Osagyefo Dr Kwame Nkrumah, the first President of Ghana, GAAS was established in 1959 to serve as a meeting point for scholars to discuss how to include science into the national development agenda, with the proposed National Science Museum serving as a link between the public and scientists.
      
Dr Obeng made the remark at the opening of a week-long people-oriented exhibition by the academy and other science and technology research-based institutions, designed to present scientific research finding in a manner that the non-scientific public could easily comprehend and embrace.
     
The exhibition, the first of its kind, was also to showcase the contribution of science and technology to national development over the past 50 years. It was supported by the Ghana@50Secretariat.
     
Exhibits include a wide range of locally manufactured items, depicting the ability of Ghanaian scientist to contribute to national development when given the necessary maximum support. Among the exhibits is Soya bio-diesel manufactured from soya beans by a team led by Dr Lawrence Darkwah of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Dr Obeng appealed to the government to pay attention to the completion of the National Science Museum located in Accra to serve as a permanent science exhibition centre.
     
She said the museum had the potential of making complex scientific and research results more public friendly and thereby encouraging the public to easily comprehend and apply locally generated science and technology in their day-to-day lives.
     
Professor Daniel Adjei-Bekoe, Chairman of the Council of State, also added his voice to the appeal and said there was the need to expedite the completion of the science museum to help bring science to the doorstep of the public. 'The museum could be a valuable learning centre for students as well and would help to instil science in the conscience of the public,' he said.
     
Prof. Adjei-Bekoe, a scientist and former Vice Chancellor of the University of Ghana, lauded the organisation for the exhibition and called on GAAS to extend their activities beyond the classroom to enable the non-scientific public to interact with scientists more frequently.