Why Celebrate Science Day?

INES-Ruhengeri celebrated World Science Day and Chemistry Day on March 17, 2012. It is exciting to note that INES-Ruhengeri, a private institution of Higher Learning, celebrated World Science Day with institutions conducting research projects in the fields of food security, land surveying, seed variety development, developing medicinal drugs from local herbs and doing clinical trials on them, soil testing for acidity, and indeed in basic chemistry. The progress that has been in the last two years at INES is indeed impressive especially in the fields of applied science. The leadership at INES is to be congratulated for hosting the event.It was gratifying to see the exhibits from INES and other HLI, and research institutions, like IRST’s exhibit on Biodiesel; Tumba College on designing micro circuit boards for fiber optic cable links and on developing alternative energy from peat; INES on Soil acidity linking soil content to productivity. Research in applied science is the best kept secret in Rwanda; it should not be a secret any longer. The proceedings of the whole day celebration/ conference will be published for public dissemination as a display of research being done in Rwanda. Why Science Day?For the lay man, science is understanding nature or the environment we live in: the physical world (physics), the mixture of elements in the natural world (chemistry), the living world (biology). From this perspective, there is nothing more important than understanding the world we live in. Once we understand the natural world, we can as human beings, can apply our endowment of intelligence to manage, modify and improve the environment. This is Applied Science: How to manage, modify and improve on our heritage, the natural world or the environment we live in, whether in a physical, biological or medical terms. The fastest growing areas in industry around the world are the fields of medical physics (nanotechnology), pharmaceuticals (drug development), and computing. This is a cause for celebration for Rwanda is on the ball here.Product Development The science exhibition at INES was living testament of the possibilities that exist in this country. There was a display of medicinal products developed in Rwanda and a discussion of collaboration with German chemical companies interested in the commercializing these products. It was interesting to see the clinical trials being done in our labs on traditional herbs like Biringanya, Igisura, Umuravumba and Icyibonobono that our mothers have used for a long time. There is nothing new here; scientists have always disappeared into the Nyungwe forest or the Amazon forest to pick up plants from which they developed medicines that we eventually buy from them at a very high cost. It is exciting that we are beginning to do this ourselves here in Rwanda. What has been missing from our work has been measurement and determining doses-using the scientific method. Our challenge now is to develop and provide a framework for obtaining patents for these products so that we can protect the intellectual property created here. It was interesting to note that Nyirangarama and UMURAGE Enterprises have plans to make wine from bananas. I am sure their products are protected by patents as intellectual property. Job CreationQuestions have been raised by students and media and even by legislators about why students should study science. This is a legitimate question that has always been raised about any scientific or technical training. However, this question is only relevant because we do not have the local industry to absorb the highly trained technical and scientific labor force we create. This is the point about the student questions. The answer is that we should create or attract industry that creates the jobs to absorb the skilled labor that we train. In terms of investment, investors cannot locate industry here if we do not have the skilled labor that can sustain those industries. We should be conscious of the necessary correlation between training and the labor market; each one needs the other.FinancingAnother question that arises is why students at public institutions are eligible for student loans while students at private institutions are not. The answer is student financing is an investment in manpower for priority area. These priority areas include agriculture, architecture, medicine, engineering, veterinary medicine, education, and Information Technology. If a student is engaged in any of these filed, there is no reason why he / she should not be supported. Again, it is gratifying that there is so much scientific talent at higher learning institutions, research centers and technical colleges in this country. This expertise should be marketed outside our borders. We can all bask in the reflected glory of their success.The author is the Executive Director of the Higher Education Council

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Why Celebrate Science Day?