Pursue scientific excellence for national development – Veep asks GAAS

Company News of Friday, April 5, 2019

Source: ghananewsagency.org

2019-04-05

Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia on Thursday badured that the government would fully support the Academy of Arts and Sciences of Ghana (GAAS) in its mission of creating, acquiring and using the technology for national development.

He paid tribute to the Academy for its service to the scientific community and asked leaders to recognize the achievements of members and to seek scientific excellence through lectures, research and publications.

Over the years, he recognized the Academy's contribution to the promotion of education and urged it to continue to provide the Government with essential advice on the achievement of the educational and other goals of the country.

Vice President Bawumia made this call when he launched the 60th anniversary celebration of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences (GAAS) in Accra.

The theme of the year-long celebration is "Sixty Years of Scientific Excellence: Achievements, Challenges and Opportunities".

The event attracted members of the Academy, directors of organizations, academics, researchers, students and members of the public.

The Vice President urged members of the Academy to encourage the next generation of talented scientists by putting in place a program to support and nurture them.
He urged them to facilitate links with the scientific community through extensive exchange programs and to promote the dissemination of scientific knowledge and publications.

Vice President Bawumia said that 60 years of the life of an institution was remarkable and deserved to be celebrated. He congratulated the members for marking such an enviable milestone by showing patriotism, erudition and integrity.

When it took office in 2017, the government put in place measures to implement the policy of free high schools to ensure all children of age to attend school to attend school.

He expressed the conviction that in the not too distant future, the majority of the population would be highly educated to contribute to the socio-economic development of the nation.

Vice President Bawumia said that since its inception, the Academy has been continuously debating issues related to artificial intelligence and other current and pressing national issues that are calling the attention of the government, especially in the world where technology and innovations are driving change.

Given this, he said, the lives of Ghanaians were imbued with the current technology encompbading the national identification system, the digital addressing system, the paperless ports system, the system online banking and mobile money interoperability platform.

The government, he said, has put in place a digitization program to improve the efficiency of many agencies, improving the accessibility and payment of public services in order to eliminate the temptation to corrupt simple processes and procedures designed to improve the quality of life of citizens.

He said that the technology had changed the traditional dynamics of production and consumption and that it was used in agriculture in some countries, allowing farmers to make sound predictions of crop yields. and soil health.

He observed that health care delivery was progressively becoming more accurate as an effective medical diagnosis based on technology, with stakeholders recording more accurate data with effective processing of national documents.

The Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences was created by an Act of Parliament on the initiative of Ghana's first president, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah.
Following the signing of the instrument of incorporation of the Ghana Apprenticeship Academy on 21 November 1959, it was inaugurated on 27 November 1959.

The Academy's purpose was to promote the study, extension and dissemination of knowledge in the arts and sciences.

It also aimed at maintaining appropriate standards of effort in the arts and sciences in Ghana and recognizing outstanding contributions to their advancement.