The ongoing Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Guyana programme has come in for high praise from the UK-based multinational oil company, Tullow Oil, for what the company says has been its “continued pursuit of dispersing STEM learning across the length and breadth of Guyana.” STEMGuyana’s initiatives, the company says, “have been tailored to the current situation and are of great quality.”
Tullow Oil’s Country Manager Joachim Vogt made the remark following the recent signing of a Learning Pod Agreement with the local non-governmental organisation. (NGO).
“We are honoured to be in partnership with STEMGuyana, an entity whose organisational goals uniquely offer a form of education that continues to drive Guyanese youth along the path of innovation. The partnership stands to provide many doors of opportunity,” Vogt declared.
Asked about the rationale behind Tullow Oil’s decision to work with STEMGuyana, Vogt said that supporting STEMGuyana “makes a lot of business sense” since the disciplines of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics contribute in various ways to technical industries which form a part of the resources needed to support the oil and gas industry. “Tullow sees the partnership as mutually beneficial, as its benefits are not short term, but end up more impactful in the long run. However, we believe that developing science, critical thinking and technical skills benefit all parts of the economy beyond just oil & gas and this is a key,” he added.
On August 10, this year, Tullow Guyana BV and STEMGuyana signed an agreement which allows the latter to continue the existing Virtual Academy for another four months. “Tullow believes that this strategic partnership with STEMGuyana will impact and inspire change continually throughout the country,” Vogt said.
And according to Vogt, “STEMGuyana must be applauded for their continued pursuit of dispersing STEM learning across the length and breadth of Guyana. Their initiatives, he said, are tailored to the current situation and are of great quality. There is immeasurable value being brought by the programme, which, though still being assessed, the impact is clear, as there is a greater reach. “We are,” he went on, “committed to STEMGuyana projects as they continue to effectively navigate challenges and deliver programmes which are received by over five hundred participants in regions throughout Guyana.”
“From the very onset of COVID-19 a strategic partnership and sponsorship was sustained allowing Tullow the opportunity to fund a weekly television show called Robin The Robot and a Virtual Academy with a focus on underprivileged children and students who are not in school or are connected to COVID-19,”Vogt explained.
Back in October 2019, an inexperienced STEMGuyana team distinguished itself by walking away with the Albert Einstein Gold Medal of Excellence at the ‘First Global Robotic’ competition in the capital city of the United Arab Emirates. Earlier, in August 2017, a Guyana team had participated in the First Global Robotics Challenge in Washington, D.C. and placed and outstanding 10th out of 164 countries.
Noting that Tullow had already “made a mark in Guyana and in the region in terms of its pursuits in the oil and gas industry” the company’s Country Manager posed the rhetorical question as to whether its relationship with STEMGuyana was not reflective of the company’s corporate social dimension to its overall operations. “Projects that attract the support of the company,” the Country Manager said, “must be those which allow for sustainable improvements in the quality of life inclusive of the ability to generate better livelihoods within the communities touched by their operations… Tullow’s interest in supporting, building and maintaining a working relationship that produces life-changing experiences for youths will remain,” Vogt assured.
