PUT RESEARCH THEORIES INTO PRACTICE (PAGE 29)

THE Dean of the Faculty of Technology Education of the Kumasi Campus of the University of Education, Winneba, Professor Reynolds Okai, has stressed the need for the country’s technology teachers to put theories into practice so that the results of their research works do not remain on paper forever.
He expressed concern that the results of many research works had died naturally to the disadvantage of the nation because no conscious efforts were made by the researchers to translate them into practice.
Prof. Okai, who was speaking at the inauguration of the Technology Students’ Association (TECHSA) of the University’s Kumasi Campus last Saturday, said if the numerous research works undertaken in the country had been implemented to the full, Ghana would for instance, have made good use of the thousands of tonnes of garbage produced daily in the cities and others communities.
“We need to change the way we do things because it will be disastrous for the nation to continue to rely on the white man for technological advancement,” he stressed.
The occasion was on the theme: “The technology teacher- a strategic technocrat for quality nation building.”
Prof. Okai, who was the guest speaker for the ceremony, expressed regret that after 52 years of independence, Ghana had not seen any significant improvement in the way things were done.
“The peasant farmer still uses hoes and cutlasses for farming. We still rely on the rains for agriculture and worse of all, we are unable to harness the full potential of solar energy for power generation”, he said.
He pointed out that without the full utilisation of technology in national life, the nation cannot move forward in its development agenda.
Prof. Okai also challenged technology students in the country’s universities to play a role in speeding up the nation’s technological development.
“In Japan for instance, most of the inventions made by scientists were the result of research undertaken by students in the tertiary institutions. Today we can testify to the fact that Japan is the most technologically advanced nation on earth”, he said.
The President of the association, Mr Solomon Atta-Agyei, said the association would complement efforts of the teaching staff of the university to bring innovations into the activities of the university.
He explained that the association was formed to seek the welfare of students in the design and technology education department of the university.