The Young
Scientists Tanzania (YST) exhibition and awards will be returning to Dar es
Salaam for a third time on 13th-14th August at the Aga
Khan Jubilee Hall. This year will see a record 100 schools exhibiting across the
various sciences related categories. BG Tanzania and Irish Aid are the main
sponsors of Young Scientists Tanzania.
“The objective
of YST is to raise the standard of secondary school science education in
Tanzania. We launched the exhibition in 2011 with four schools and last year we
had 60 schools from 18 regions in Tanzania. This year, we are happy to say that
this initiative has grown to include entries from 100 schools from across Tanzania,”
said YST Director, Dr Gozibert Kamugisha. “We would not be able to achieve
these sorts of result without the kind support of our many sponsors, not
forgetting the hard work put in by the students and their teachers.”
The YST 2014
exhibition, which is traditionally hosted at the Diamond Jubilee Hall, will be
expecting more than 300 students from all over Tanzania to exhibit their
research projects. The occasion also gives thousands of students, who visit the
exhibition, a chance to see and be inspired by these amazing science projects.
“At BG Tanzania we are excited to take up this opportunity to help
develop scientific young minds in Tanzania. We are a Company with generations
of expertise in discovering and developing natural resources. Thus it was a
natural fit for us to support YST as they help develop Tanzania’s resource of
young minds in the sciences,” said Fred Kibodya- Head of
Policy and Corporate Affairs, BG Tanzania.
Prizes for winning projects are
intended to empower the winners and their schools further in their scientific
growth and development. Prizes will
include cash, scholarships, books for school libraries as well as laptops. The
overall winners for YST 2014 will attend the BT Young Scientist and Technology
Exhibition in Ireland in January 2015.
“Irish Aid through the Embassy of Ireland in
Tanzania, is delighted to support Young Scientists Tanzania”, says HE Fionnuala
Gilsenan, Irish Ambassador to Tanzania, “as it is a platform for engaging young
people and promoting the innovation and creativity that are essential to the
future growth and investment in Tanzania.”
Since the
inception of YST in 2011, more than
700 students will have presented projects from different categories of
science, biological and ecological; physics and chemical; social and
behavioural studies; and technology. YST’s
annual exhibition aims to build on the successes of the initiative and help
raise the profile and standard of science education in Tanzanian secondary
schools.
“ The Ministry
of Communication, Science and Technology is proud to support Young Scientists
Tanzania as it is a truly innovative and
transformational approach to developing a much needed science culture in our
country,” commented Hon. Prof. Makame Mbarawa, Minister for Communication,
Science and Technology.
ENDS.
For more information please contact the
following;
Dr.
Gozibert Kamugisha
YST Executive Director & Co-Founder
C: +255 786 295477
kamugisha@youngscientists.co.tz
http://www.youngscientists.co.tz
Ewetse
Khama
Hotwire Public Relations Consultancy
T: +255 22 2602 202/ C: +255 7859 31318
ewetse@hotwireprc.com
About Young
Scientists Tanzania
The proposal to develop the Young Scientists Tanzania (YST) grew out of
the work of the Combat Diseases of Poverty Consortium (CDPC) whereby African
researchers and scientists on training programmes in Ireland were exposed to
the development education work of the CDPC and its engagement with the British
Telecom sponsored Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Ireland. This
interest led to a proposal from the International Steering Committee of CDPC in
to explore possibilities to develop a similar initiative in East Africa where
science education is weak and considered to be a real constraint on innovation
in development.
An agreement between CDPC and the Young
Scientist and Technology Exhibition Ireland Ltd. allowed the intellectual
property and resources of the Irish model to be used in Tanzania, and
discussions with a variety of stakeholders began in 2009. Both the Ministry of
Education and Vocational Training and the Ministry of Communication Science and
Technology in Tanzania were involved in these initial discussions, and from an
early stage offered their full support and cooperation in the formation of
Young Scientists Tanzania as part of the implementation of the governments’
strategic goals. Pearson Foundation, in partnership with CDPC, provided initial
incubation funding to produce a feasibility study on embedding YS in Tanzania.
Young Scientist Tanzania is now registered in
Tanzania and a Memorandum of Understanding between YST and the Tanzania
Commission for Science and Technology (COSTECH) was signed in March 2012 to
ensure that the initiative worked within the existing education framework.
Following the successful launch of YST by the
Minister for Communication Science and Technology at National Science Week in
November 2011, Pearson Foundation, Irish Aid and The Karimjee Jivanjee
Foundation provided further funding to develop the project in 2012. From
January 2012, the YST team travelled to regions across Tanzania to provide
mentoring to schools, teachers and students on the principles of context based
learner centred scientific research. This mentoring took the form of regional
workshops as well as direct school intervention, with the
primary aim to provide guidance to enthusiastic teachers and help them
encourage their students to undertake research projects for entry in the
exhibition. In 2012, over 100 schools from 10 regions across Tanzania
participated in this outreach program, the majority of which then submitted
projects for the 2012 Exhibition.
In October 2012, the first ever Young Scientists
Tanzania Exhibition and Awards was held at the Diamond Jubilee Hall in Dar es
Salaam. Over 350 students and teachers, representing 100 schools, travelled to
Dar es Salaam from all over Tanzania to showcase their projects to both the
scientific community and the general public. Projects were divided into 4
categories - Biological Sciences, Chemical, Mathematical and Physical Sciences,
Social and Behavioural Sciences and Technology – and each project was judged by
a panel of 25 specialist judges chosen from across industry, academia and the
public sector. A high profile Awards ceremony attended by the Minister for
Science, Communication and Technology was then held to reward those projects
who had demonstrated particular strength in communication, methodology and
innovation.
The second successful exhibition was held in
September 2013. In an attempt to make the exhibition a national project,
schools from 19 regions in Tanzania participated in the exhibition. Major
developments occurred at the second exhibition. In addition to the YST prizes,
the overall winners were also awarded scholarships for their university
education when the time comes for them to study at university. Two other
university scholarships were also awarded students from Pemba.
The 2014 exhibition is scheduled for the 13th
and 14th August at the Diamond Jubilee Hall, and is the benefactor
of generous support from BG Tanzania and Irish Aid as the chief sponsors. YST
2014 will be expecting more than 300 students from all over Tanzania to exhibit
their research projects. The occasion also gives thousands of students, who
visit the exhibition, a chance to see and be inspired by these amazing science
projects.
It is hoped that sustained support for this
project will result in the active engagement of young Tanzanians in the search
for practical solutions to the problems that hinder development. It is hoped
that YST will cultivate a scientific culture in Tanzania and foster research
projects on topics as wide ranging as nutrition, climate change, sustainable
agriculture, gender inequality, disease, clean water and sustainable energy,
all of which have major implications for the development of the Tanzanian
economy and society.
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