Africa Regional Radiation Protection and Safety seminar opens

By Christabel Addo, GNA
Accra, March 2, GNA - Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng, the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation (MESTI), has opened a 22-week Africa Regional Post Graduate Education Course on Radiation Protection and Safety of Radiation Sources.

The Course which is the sixth started on February 27, would end on July 28, 2017.

It is composed of 11 parts of theoretical work and some practicals in the form of project works by the students, to be supervised and marked by highly qualified lecturers from the Graduate School of Nuclear and Allied Sciences (SNAS) of the University of Ghana.

The participants include 18 international students from Mauritius, Rwanda, Botswana, Egypt, Kenya, Lesotho, Ethiopia, Malawi, Namibia, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Sudan, and four from Ghana.

Prof Cyril Schandorf, a Lecturer at the Radiation Protection Institute at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission (GAEC) introduced the participants to the sector Minister.

Prof Schandorf explained that the Course was being run by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the GAEC in collaboration with some end users of radiation sources.

Prof Frimpong Boateng thanked the IAEA for the continuous support to its member-countries and the opportunity for Ghana to host the course.

He also commended the SNAS for expanding its post graduate education for students in the Africa Region.

He said although key to bring out hidden talents, education alone was not enough, if it was not backed with the requisite resources and environment to motivate both teachers and students to aspire for higher laurels.

'Do not forget the God factor,' saying this is the key to all successes in the future.

He challenged the participants to exhibit good attitudes in areas including time consciousness, respect for leadership, gender sensitivity littering and indulging in other negative social vices during and after their course of study.

GNA