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Promoting Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) is cardinal to government’s industrialization agenda – Napo

The Minister for Education Matthew Opoku Prempeh has said the government recognizes the immense benefits the country can gain from promoting Technical and Vocational Education hence that informed the decision to making TVET, the bedrock of its industrialization agenda.

He explained that upgrading the TVET sector, marketing and promoting the same are crucially linked to governments initiatives like the National Industrial Revitalization program, One- district -One factory, planting for food and jobs among others.

“The decision we have taken over the past three plus years in the TVET sector such as realignment of all TVET institutions under the Ministry of Education, upgrading of the TVET system in Ghana, and marketing and promotion of TVET are crucially linked to the government’s initiatives like the National Industrial Revitalization Programme, Strategic Anchor Industries, One- District-OneFactory, Planting for Foods and Jobs”.

In a speech read for him by the Executive Director of COTVET, Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah at the 36th conference of the association of Principals of Technical institutions held in Tamale, the Minister however lamented that despite the prospects in the TVET sector, it is still bedeviled with several challenges.

He mentioned the poor linkage between training institutions and industry, poor TVET infrastructure across the country, wrong public perception about TVET and the multiplicity of standards, testing and certification as some of the setbacks confronting the sector.

He also mentioned “informal TVET system (over 78%) that has been neglected and detached from the formal TVET system, low quality of instruction due to inadequate instructor training and lack of instructor support and fragmented landscape and poor coordination among multiple delivery agencies”.

President of the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions Benjamin Agyabeng noted that COVID-19 has exposed essential developmental needs and gaps such as infrastructure in all sectors, food security and poverty and a well established TVET sector could be a panacea to the challenges. He said a well-designed and relevant TVET system will feed all sectors of the national economy to propel sustainable and rapid development of the country.

“It is a well known and well established fact that a well design and relevant TVET system is a panacea to most of this needs. If we get our TVET system right, we will get almost everything right”.

The Northern Regional Minister Salifu Sa-eed on his part encouraged the conference to interrogate all relevant proposals and make recommendations to the government on policies they deem inimical to the growth of the industrial environment.

“Undoubtedly, the purpose of technical and vocational education at the non-degree level is to provide young people with technical and vocational skills training (in addition to general education) in order to enable them fulfill the country’s technical manpower needs, including self-employment in the fields of industry business and agriculture”.

” I wish to challenge you to engage in fruitful discussion and to interrogate any proposals which in your views are inimical to our present day reality and in particular in the light of the ever changing dynamics of the industrial environment” Mr. Sa-eed added.

The 36th Conference of the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions was on the theme “making Ghana’s TVET system responsive and relevant to the Nation’s developmental needs; the role of the stakeholders”.

The Conference of the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions is an annual gathering of all principals of all technical institutions in Ghana where they share ideas and best practices. It is also an avenue for making critical policy recommendations to government and other stakeholders to enhance the TVET in Ghana.

Story By: Edward A. Ken-zorre

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