By Lexi Elo with Agency Report
In the last decade, Africa has experienced unprecedented economic growth and some of the continent’s industries – retailing, manufacturing, banking, telecommunications, construction and private investment – are booming.
As Africa undergoes unprecedented transformation and growth, challenges such as the impacts of climate change on economic sectors like agriculture, the spread of disease and the inequitable division of wealth remain.
To meet these challenges and to ensure Africa’s continued growth, the continent needs well-trained engineers, scientists, innovators and entrepreneurs, which makes investments in and access to quality Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Education (STEM) education an urgent imperative.
Alongside the World Economic Forum in Africa, a panel of experts is set to explore how investments in STEM education will drive Africa’s development forward and why the lack of such investment is perilous to the continent’s future. Experts are to debate the urgency of investing in STEM education, an area of focus on which Africa’s future depends.
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The MasterCard Foundation and the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) will also discuss details of their new $25 million partnership to educate talented, yet economically disadvantaged, young people in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in Africa.
The event billed to hold on June 4, 2015 (9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.) is scheduled to hold at One and Only Hotel, Dock Road, V & A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
Speakers at the event include Naledi Pandor, Minister of Science and Technology, South Africa; Thierry Zomahoun, President and CEO of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS); Phillip Clay, former Chancellor of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and member of The MasterCard Foundation Board of Directors; and Dr. Tolu Oni, a 2015/16 Next Einstein Forum Fellow.
The discussion, which is open to the media, is to be moderated by Alan Kasujja of the BBC World Service Newsday radio programme.
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