SHS students learn engineering concepts and designs

Kumasi, Aug. 01, GNA - The College of Engineering, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), has launched a programme to harness inherent engineering potentials in senior high school (SHS) students.

It forms part of the drive towards making engineering-related courses more attractive to students at the pre-tertiary level.

The three-day programme dubbed 'Cygnus Engineering Camp' is being jointly sponsored by Norad, a Norwegian-based Development Agency, and Ghana Grid Company (GRIDCo).

Professor Mark Adom-Asamoah, Provost of the College, in a speech read for him, indicated that the nation could not make development headway without relying on technology.

Policy-makers, he said, therefore needed to deliberately invest in programmes that would help to inspire and motivate young students to become creative and innovative.

He pointed out that Ghana's goal of industrialization, to create jobs and prosperity for the people could turn into a mirage if 'we neglect the vital role of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education'.

He said there was a lot the nation could learn from the 'Brain South Korea' programme - a comprehensive and sustained plan by the Asian giant to spearhead development in all fields of their endeavor, riding on the back of innovation and technology.

The Provost noted that when SHS students were exposed to engineering concepts and designs at an early age, they would be inspired to do greater things.

Dr. Kwadwo Mensah-Darkwa, a Lecturer at the College, and Chairman for the Planning Committee of the Programme, said the students would be taken through robotics competition, hands-on engineering project, seminars on career opportunities in engineering and a field trip to a GRIDCo substation.

The camp, he added, was going to be institutionalized to expose young students to the benefits of engineering.

Dr. Abdul-Rahman Ahmed, a Senior Lecturer, had earlier taken the participants to the various laboratories at the College, including the autotronics, fluid properties, core and rock properties, drilling fluid and cementing, drilling and well simulation, electronic, communications laboratories.

The participating schools are the KNUST SHS, Opoku Ware, Yaa Asantewaa Girls, Kumasi High, Kumasi Anglican, T.I. Ahmadiyya, Kumasi Girls and Kumasi Academy SHS.

GNA

By Stephen Asante/Florence Afriyie Mensah, GNA