Dear Editor,
We live in an age in which scientific principles are being adapted more and more to serve the needs of mankind. This is the basis of modern technology. The Essequibo Technical Institute (ETI) today is transforming itself into a modern school with the development of a technological capability. We in Essequibo need such a capability in order to make the fullest use of our valuable resources.
The region has completed the construction of an Institute of Applied Science and Technology and the Guyana School of Agriculture Branch at a cost of millions of dollars. Science and Technology policy and programmes should be oriented towards and serve the development objectives of our country.
Our schools have to produce large numbers of highly skilled and motivated scientists and technologists. Consequently ETI’s educational system, while not ignoring the value and importance of a liberal education, must put the major emphasis on scientific and technical training.
The Principal Mr Dennis Jaikarran has created a climate conducive to the emergence and nurturing of a scientific community.
He is being encouraged with his youthful staff to grapple with concrete developmental problems, direct their energies to exploring the economic possibilities of the region’s resources and the problems of our environment – and attempting to come up with positive answers and clear-cut solutions. His approach in no way belittles or undervalues the importance of basic research. But it does stress the fact that in developing countries scientists and technologists must see their role as being one primarily in the service of the country’s development. The ETI section of the Guyana School of Agriculture has started to investigate the properties and the economic possibilities of our herbs, woods, soil, fruits and vegetables and minerals.
Yours faithfully,
Mohamed Khan
