Editorial | Good news, at last!

Good news is hard to find in a world awash with unprecedented troubles, but Jamaica was just handed a morale booster by a bunch of high-school students who earned a gold medal in the global robotics competition in Singapore.

Team Jamaica won the Katherine Johnson award for engineering documentation, in honour of the black woman who was immortalised in the film Hidden Figures, for her role in calculating orbital mechanics for NASA which were critical to the success of early space missions.

For four days, October 7 to 10, the Jamaicans and students from 190 other countries matched skills in the Olympic-style robotics competition organised by the US-based non-profit group, First Global.

Established in 2017, the competition is centred around issues of global importance, and this year’s theme was ‘Hydrogen Horizons’. Teams were challenged to learn about hydrogen technologies and their possible role in energy future, as well as to consider the broader concept of global energy access.

Further, the teams had to find innovative ways to indicate how hydrogen may be used as a safe alternative to fossil fuels and demonstrate this with their robots.

DEDICATED HOURS

It took many dedicated hours between June and September for this group of students, mostly from Corporate Area schools, and one rural school, to put the project together. Their schedule included meeting Monday to Saturday from June to August and then in September on Saturdays and other times in-between, as they worked with their coaches and programme directors to perfect the entry.

One big takeaway from this effort is the clear demonstration that Jamaica does have the talent to make that leap from being mere users of technology to becoming innovators.

The other takeaway from this exercise is the fact that, in order to produce world-class performance, there has to be dedication, tenacity and hard work, the same prescription which is required for any kind of discipline, be it sport or the professions.

It would be a splendid outcome if this golden performance by Team Jamaica became the springboard for the expansion of science and technology education and stirred more interest in the younger generation to pursue STEM-oriented careers.

ADVANCE STEM

The Ministry of Education is to be encouraged in its efforts to advance STEM at all levels of the education platform. For, the teaching and learning of integrated science, engineering, technology and mathematics through hands-on experience and participating in global events, such as the robotics competition, will lay the foundation for advanced STEM skills. It will require that equal attention be paid to rural schools by making the investment to outfit biotechnology and robotics labs so they, too, can become passionate about technology and innovation.

The experts in education are confident that STEM education builds skills for everyone. For, not only does it encourage critical thinking, it could stir a passion for innovation.

Employment in STEM jobs is growing by leaps and bounds, according to relevant statistics which cite growth of 79% in the last three decades and predict sustained growth of at least 10% each year. We understand the impact of such a demand for talent on countries like Jamaica.

We will not, therefore, gloss over the realities. We anticipate that Jamaica will lose some of the brightest and best engineers and technologists to more lucrative overseas markets. The response to loss of talent could include investment in training; creating new incentives; and engaging the diaspora to tap into that enormous pool of talent and also to promote the idea of entrepreneurship.

One thing is for sure, there can be no retreat from the promotion of STEM education, for the very life of the economy depends on it.