Last week in Parmaribo, Suriname, STEMGuyana co-founder Karen Abrams presented the STEMGuyana model, vision and journey to members and guests of the ICT Association of Suriname. The event was sponsored by the ICT Association of Suriname, a conglomeration of local private IT companies and institutions.
ICT Association of Suriname Chairwoman and event organizer Ms Djina Sanchit when asked for comment stated, “We met Ms. Abrams at the IDB Caribbean Civil Society Conference – Digital Transformations for the Caribbean, during our visit to Guyana earlier this year, where she presented her vision about Guyana’s tech startups and the shift she wants to make for the Caribbean to change from tech users to tech providers.
As one of the strategic pillars of the ICT Association Suriname is educational development with crucial action item to organize adaptation to educational needs and as Suriname is yet missing a nationwide approach for STEM activities, we invited Ms. Abrams to Suriname, to present her STEM Guyana journey to members and guests of the ICT Association Suriname…”
Also on the November 6th event agenda, was Mr. Danny Lachman, Director IGSR who spoke about “Suriname’s Industrial Strategy – ICT Charter” and Ms Monica Gomez, CSR Manager, Cisco Networking Academy, who spoke about “Empowering Suriname’s ICT Talent.”
The evening’s event was attended by among others, IT company CEO’s, Directors, Consultants, Engineers, Sales Representatives, Managers and Journalists and also representatives of the Ministry of Education.
Asked for a comment, STEMGuyana Co-founder, Karen Abrams remarked that, “Suriname felt very much like home. I was delighted and honored to represent Guyana at this event. It is my hope that all countries in the region benefit from a national IT development strategy which allows all of the region’s children to be better prepared for the technology future which awaits them. I was also impressed by Suriname’s progress in the IT space and the determination of leaders in the space to ensure that progress made in pockets of the country would transfer into a cost effective and scalable program which would allow access to Suriname’s children in all regions of the country”
Asked for one final comment, ICT Associates Chairwoman Djina Sanchit remarked that, “…With her (Karen Abrams) presentation she blew everybody away. The talk was very inspiring, fueling the mind shift we started making in Suriname.
Emphasizing on the key concept to keep feeding children’s curiosity and to keep them inspired, with mathematics as the basis for STEM, she made a nationwide STEM approach for Suriname something that needs to be implemented asap. With her presentation she also made very clear that a strong vision and strategy, marketing and involvement of the Ministry of Education are boundary conditions to make nationwide STEM successful.
In Suriname we look forward to further collaboration with STEM Guyana, to grow strong together in STEM.”
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