Editor,

RE: "Kagame launches Africa mathematics institute” (The New Times, April 4).

Africa must start producing its own technology and stop being a consumer but rather a producer of the technologies it needs. If this doesn’t change, Africa will remain dependent on others and subject to outside control, and its economies dominated by others’ exploitation of its natural resources.

Africa needs to nurture its own experts, pioneers, and innovators. Rwanda has an urgent need for a qualified workforce to help spur development and growth. This means that our entire education system has to become more practically orientated. Therefore, mathematics, science and innovations have to serve as the foundation of modern society because they underlie every technology.

Vincent Nyirigira