UN WORKSHOP IN BOTSWANA ASSESSING SPACE EDUCATION IN AFRICAN SCHOOLS
Press Release
OS/1743
UN WORKSHOP IN BOTSWANA ASSESSING SPACE EDUCATION IN AFRICAN SCHOOLS
19981021 VIENNA, 20 October (UN Information Service) -- Delegates from 16 African countries have gathered in Gaborone, Botswana, to assess how a United Nations-Swedish training programme has boosted space technology education in African schools. The meeting began yesterday and runs through Wednesday.The training programme, organized in 1990 by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in cooperation with the Swedish Government, aims to teach African educators about remote sensing satellites and their uses in the developing world so they can initiate courses in space technology at their own schools.
Remote sensing data gathered through satellites and stored in archives is invaluable in fields such as planetary exploration and astronomy. It is vitally important in tackling development hazards such as natural disasters and weather forecasting.
Satellites can detect minute differences in the earth's surface that could be the telltale signs of a life-threatening earthquake. They can also predict rainfall, with its boomerang effect on crop growth, livestock fodder and menacing pests such as locusts.
In addition to assessing the state of African education in remote sensing, educators will draw up recommendations aimed at overcoming any hindrances encountered by countries in the programme. The workshop is part of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications of the Office for Outer Space Affairs, which aims to boost awareness of space science and its uses in developing countries.
It conducts an annual series of training courses, seminars, conferences and workshops on space-related questions and also administers a long-term fellowship programme for in-depth training of specialists in space science and technology, gives technical advisory services on request and is setting up regional centres for space technology around the world.
Thirty-five delegates are attending the workshop from Algeria, Botswana, Burundi, Cameroon, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The meeting includes speakers from the European Space Agency (ESA), Stockholm University and the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs.
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