[ 2021-02-13 ]

Government focused on creating enabling environment for businesses to thrive
Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, Director, Council for
Technical and Vocational Education Training
(COTVET), has reiterated government’s commitment
to the creation of an enabling environment for
businesses to thrive.

Mr Asamoah was speaking on Thursday during the
launch of the Precision Quality Training Programme
(PQ) to equip artisans with the requisite
knowledge and skills to meet globally accepted
industry standards.

The event was organized by The Design and
Technology Institute (DTI), a technical/vocational
training institution with focus on young people.

The Programme forms part of DTI's partnership
agreement with the MasterCard Foundation and will
create 40,000 direct and indirect work
opportunities for young people within the next
three years.

Mr Asamoah said Technical and Vocational Education
Training (TVET) was the solution to Ghana’s
unemployment situation and the country’s youth
unemployment challenge required an all-round
deliberate and consistent response to ensure
quality and precision.

He said attention should not only be given to
youth unemployment but also develop the human
capital in areas such as interpersonal skills,
presentation skills, communication skills,
leadership skills, analytical skills, basic
computer skills and critical thinking skills.

He said over the past few years, Government had
made tremendous strides at improving the TVET
sector, notable amongst them being the development
and approval for implementation of a five-year
strategic plan which had five policy objectives
and seventeen strategies.

Mr Asamoah said Government had passed the
Education Regulatory Policy Act which also
established the Commission for Technical and
Vocational Education Regulation through the
merging of COTVET and the National Board for
Professional Technicians Examinations (NABPTEX).

“We passed the Pre-tertiary Education B into law
to establish a Technical and Vocational Education
and Training Service that would specifically look
at TVET delivery in the Pre-tertiary sector.
Government has also developed a National
Apprenticeship Policy that would train people in
the industry where everybody benefits and quality
is also assured,” he added.

Mr Titi Ofei, Director of Institute, DTI, said
education was a powerful tool by which both adults
and children can lift themselves out of poverty
and participate fully as citizens of a nation.

He said the rapid changes occurring in the global
economy had led to the introduction of new
technologies and the demand for more highly
skilled workers.

As such, Ghana’s education system must be
modified to meet the needs and challenges of
today, adding that, the skills of yesterday may
not be able to fix the problems of tomorrow.

He said all over the world, TVET was the vehicle
being used to develop skills and train the
workforce.

However, he said in Ghana, more provisions had
been made to support academic institutions as
opposed to technical/vocational institutions and
“this must change”.

In Ghana, there are 900 academic institutions as
compared to only 45 public technical institutions
and TVET have been historically positioned as a
second-class type of education. Many parents look
forward to sending their children to academic
institutions and do not give thought to technical
institutions,” he said.

Mr Ofei said apart from parental resistance
towards the patronage of TVET schools, the youth
also had no interest in it because the general
idea that had been created amongst peer groups was
that students of tertiary institutions were
academic failures or blockheaded.

Mr Gideon Bidor, President of Artisans Association
of Ghana, said artisan skills such as kente
weaving, beads making, basket making, blacksmith,
goldsmith, plumbing, should be added to the
educational curriculum right from basic school so
that children would grow up appreciating technical
education.

He said to achieve PQ attitudinal change was
required, in that, industry players must endeavour
to carry out their duties in a professional manner
with or without supervision.

“Let us encourage those in this field to do it
more and not look down on them because they are
not formally educated and cannot speak the
Queen’s language. One major problem we face is
discrimination. Artisans are underpaid for their
services even though their work is very tedious.
This causes great discouragement and as such a
person may decide to look for another work and
discourage any of his children from venturing into
this field,” he said.

Source - GNA

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