http://www.nature.com/news/science-in-the-developing-world-eritrea-s-shattered-science-1.11671#/comments
The Politicization of Science
*Gebremichael, A., and #Gebreamlak, O.
Orotta Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine, P. O. Box 10549,
Asmara, Eritrea.
Nature Correspondence
The Feature News article, "Eritrea's shattered Science" (
Nature 491,
24-26, 2012) and accompanying commentary (
Nature 491, 8, 2012) on the
state of science in Eritrea, demonstrates what happens when political
activism obscures objectivity.
While science in developing countries like ours, and policies adopted
to achieve them, is a legitimate and useful inquiry, such exercise
fails altogether when honest appraisal of facts is deliberately ignored.
Eritrea's strategy for science development has been anchored on the
principle of self-reliance and sustainability. Such policy neither
implies a stride to re-invent the wheel nor the shunning (as is often
wrongly perceived) of help when needed. Rather, its a reflection of
priorities placed to best promote the needs and interests of the
society we serve. The merits of such policy ought to have been
evaluated on tangible data rather than politically tainted views of
self-exiled individuals.
Despite tremendous challenges, Eritrea has achieved a 4-fold increase
in primary and secondary education, enrolled over 12,000 pupils at
seven of its colleges and succeeded in graduating nearly 200 medical
and dental students at the Orotta Schools of Medicine and Dental
Medicine, in just the past four years alone.
Contrary to the false claims in the article, our institutions enjoy
productive collaboration with universities in Africa, Asia, and
Europe, including long-standing relationships with Boston, Tufts,
Yale and Harvard universities in the U S. These facts hardly speak of
a shattered science education in Eritrea.
These being just a few samplings of the facts, we find it grossly
unethical for the articles' author to have expressed the desire to
"let the world know that science is far more advanced in Eritrea than
most people realize" (
personal communication), but yet concludes of
its demise in her published article.
A genuine inquiry would have been a worthy subject for the pages of
Nature and the scientific community, and would also have greatly
benefited those of us engaged in this endeavor.
* Dean, Orotta Schools of Medicine and Dental Medicine.
Email: andemariam_at_orotta.org;
Phone: (291)-1-163289; Fax:(291)-1-163290.
# Medical Director, Orotta Postgraduate Medical Education Program.
E-mail: ogbaselassie_at_orotta.org
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An expanded response article is attached on the following link:
http://orotta.org/Nature_article_Eritrea.pdf
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Received on Wed Mar 13 2013 - 21:02:14 EDT
