Julie Payette,the Governor General of Canada has appealed to the young people, especially girls, to pursue science related courses in order to develop solution based policies to the development challenges that Africa faces. Payette, an Engineer and Astronaut, was yesterday holding an interactive meeting with budding scientists from African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS). During the interaction with the students, she challenged the young scientist, not to look back on their upbringing experiences or gender factor in pursuit of their science and engineering careers. “You should not be obscured from your life time careers in science or engineering because of your background or gender, does not matter and should never and ever ruin you from achieving your passion choice line of education” she remarked. Since 2011, the Canadian government, through its International Development Research Centre (IDRC) has contributed 44.46 million Canadian dollars to support the work of AIMS including the expansion its network of centres of excellence on the continent. Payette, who was also part of the foreign delegation that joined Rwandans in the 25th commemoration of 1994 genocide against the Tutsi had, on Friday, visited and addressed students and pupils of GS Karama in Kigali. The school gets sponsorship from different partners in Canada such as nongovernment organisation— Right To Play. During yesterday’s interaction, she shared her long time interaction with science applications but most especially her space station mission experience, telling students that excellence in science has no boundaries. “My experience at space station was a life time experience especially as the first female Canadian robotics engineer at the space station, the atmosphere was overwhelming but most was the lesson I learnt that science has got no boundaries” she said. The governor general was also accompanied with a delegation drawn from scientists, senior advisors and high profile politicians who offered life time lectures to students. Among the delegates, was the one of the long serving member of Canadian parliament David Christopherson, who reminded the youth about their mandate of making Africa a better place for everyone to live. At over 96.9 per cent, Rwanda has the highest net primary enrolment rate in Africa, with qualified teachers at 95 per cent and dropout rate at 5.6 per cent. editor@newtimesrwanda.com
