Despite there being only a few schools on display at the conclusion of the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge 2016, the quality of participation has been very high.
This was underscored as Parliamentary Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Senator Harcourt Husbands, congratulated students who participated in the competition.
???We don???t have enough schools but the quality of your work; the way you have presented yourselves and articulated to me what you are doing is very interesting,??? he said.
Adding that he looked forward to more entries from schools next year, Senator Husbands stressed students and teachers had reached ???an extremely high quality in their presentations and displays???.
The Parliamentary Secretary also commended Sagicor for its role and involvement in promoting the Challenge as well as Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at the local and regional level.
???The education system was founded on the participation of various stakeholders. We could not have reached the success that we have reached in this educational system of ours, of which we are rightly proud without the participation of a number of agencies. Sagicor is one,??? he said.
Students gathered heard that though they may not be fully aware of the value of STEM to them, their quality of life – type of job, level of pay and compensation and things they could afford to do and buy or give charitably ??? would be significantly influenced by their exposure to STEM. Mr. Husbands therefore urged them to seize the opportunities.
Meanwhile, Vice President, Corporate Communications and Marketing of Sagicor Life Inc., Anderson King, told them of the tremendous potential that existed in their ideas, and the hope for tomorrow’s generation as innovators and practitioners of STEM.
He pointed out that Sagicor, the Caribbean Science Foundation and the Caribbean Examinations Council had conceptualised the Sagicor Visionaries Challenge in 2012 with the goal of offering students an avenue to explore STEM ???to be a driving force behind our economies for tomorrow and to realise their full potential???.
joy-ann.gill@barbados.gov.bb