Africa Science Week starts in 11 African countries including Somaliland

By M.A. Egge

The Africa Science Week is simultaneously held in eleven countries in Africa as a campaign to boost girl participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) which has included Somaliland in its focus was initiated in the country capital Hargeisa on  Wednesday.

Attended by stakeholders and government officials, the event is slated to go on for five days.

The event was first initiated by scholars from the African continent in 2020, is the first time it is happening in this country.

Various officials who spoke at the forum said the importance of science and development for every country and how it is necessary for the society to benefit from the knowledge of STEM.

Dubbed the Next Einstein Forum (NEF) African Science Week (ASW) 2023 edition, the week-long symposium is themed “Breaking Barriers” which seeks to exhibit scientific excellence as evidence that women can excel in STEM careers.

This is an all-out campaign that is pro-girl child will see themed events, exhibitions, scientific caravans, robotics competition, roundtables, conferences and scientific movie nights held to show girls can also excel in STEM careers.

The African Institute of mathematical sciences (AIMS) in conjunction with the Henry Luce Foundation is launching the Africa Science Week of the Next Einstein Forum of the simultaneous events in all the 11 countries. They have major centers in Kenya, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, Cameron, and Rwanda.

It has been generally slated from the 10^th to the 26^th of June 2023 with the events varying with intensity and extent of events from one country to the other.

Their facilitating partner here in Somaliland is the Barkulan organization.

The rich continent of Africa is supporting developed countries to improve the knowledge of its people in science and mathematics, so that they can benefit from it.

The chairman of the cultural center, Dr Jama Muse Jama, who made a speech at the opening said that the African community has the opportunity to adapt to the ongoing development, and benefit from the building of their scientific and mathematical knowledge.

The Minister of Technology Hon. Abdiweli Sheikh Abdillahi Sufi noted that countries prosperity are based on advanced knowledge and are ranked according to how they study science.

It is worth noting that the number of girls who take STEM careers is quite pathetic and statistics show that those who enroll in it drop half-way in the course and do not complete them.

The theme of this year’s ASW is “Breaking Barriers, Inspiring Scientific Excellence” and will focus on promoting women in STEM careers.