Under the plan, all public pre-tertiary and tertiary TVET institutions with delivery fragmented under 15 Ministries, will be realigned under the Ministry of Education.

The implementation of the plan will also see the following;

1. Establishment and operationalization of Technical and Vocational Education Service (TVES) as a delivery agency under Education Ministry.
2. Establishment of an apex Training institution for the training of TVET staff
3. Addition of Department of Education to Technical Universities
4. Strengthening Agricultural training in TVET
5. Establishment of Sector Skills Councils

As part of efforts to transform the country’s Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) to meet the needs of industries, the government has decided to realign all aspects of TVET provision under the Ministry of Education.

Hitherto, the over 400 public and 180 private pre-tertiary and tertiary TVET institutions were very fragmented with negative implications, which affected governance system, development and coordination of TVET for efficiency, quality and relevance.

The over 400 public pre-tertiary and tertiary TVET institutions were being managed by four different ministries namely: the Education Ministry, (Technical and Vocational Institutions, Secondary Technical Schools,  Non-Formal Education, National Vocational Training Institutions (NVTI),  Employment and labour Ministry, (Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills (ICCES), Opportunity Industrialization Centre (OIC), Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrial Service (GRATIS),  Trade Ministry, (Rural Technology Training Centre), Ministry of Food and Agriculture, (Colleges of Agriculture, Farm Institutes).

Speaking to Citi News on the sidelines of a three-day workshop for journalists in Accra, Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah, the Executive Director of the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET), indicated that when the plan is fully implemented, all Technical and Vocational Training institutions will be standardized.

He added that, it will also strengthen, improve and revitalize the skills development sector in the country to contribute meaningfully to industrial development and economic growth.

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By: Kojo Agyeman/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The Senior Minister, Yaw Osafo Maafo, said the plans were well-advanced to ensure that Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) was well managed.

[contextly_sidebar id=”a7PUgAUHmR5F75iUHYeAXewZPRP2Fvd3″]This forms part of the government’s strategy for Technical and Vocational Education and Training in the country to help reduce the alarming unemployment rate in the country.

When appointed, this new Director will work alongside the current GES boss, Professor Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa.

Mr. Osafo Maafo made this known at the 60th Anniversary Celebrations of the St Paul’s Technical School at Kukurantumi in the Eastern Region.

He also revealed that he was Chairing a Committee tasked to see to the restructuring of technical and vocational education in the country.

“We are going to have two Director-Generals; one specifically for TVET services and one for normal education services. So all matters related to technical vocational education will be handled under the Director-General for TVET services,” he explained.

This move is envisioned to shift the emphasis of education from the grammar system to vocational education, Mr. Osafo Maafo stated.

“We want to shift the emphasis to technical and vocational education. That clear absence of that technical concept within the administration of education has cost us a lot because everybody is emphasizing grammar education because that is what we have emphasized in our structure.”

“We want a Director General for Technical Education Services so that the emphasis is there in the structure of the education and all TVET will work to its Director General,” he added.

Aside from this, the Senior Minister also charged Technical Universities to stick to their mandate of training technicians to bridge the unemployment gap.

He observed that “you go to every polytechnic is this country and you realise that they are offering degrees in marketing, personnel management and public relations all along the lines of grammarian schools. I am saying that is not their core business.”

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He said whoever manages any aspect of TVET must have proper understanding of its mission and mandate so that it could effectively contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.

Mr Amponsah said this when he addressed the 4th graduation of the Biriwa Vocational Training and Rehabilitation Institute in the Central Region over the weekend.

The day, which was celebrated on the theme: “Technical and Vocational Education Training, the need for a united front in Ghana,” offered the graduands the opportunity to showcase some of their products.

Some 216 students graduated after four years of training in Block Laying and Concreting, Carpentry and joinery, General Electrical, Catering, Dressmaking, Leather Works, Welding and Fabrications, Motor Vehicle Mechanics, Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning as well as Generic Skills for sustainable livelihood.

Mr Amponsah said Ghana and other developing countries in Africa faced similar challenges in TVET because of the perception that TVET was for dropouts.

“If you come to Ghana, we have Technical, Vocation Education and Training and informal apprenticeship boxed together and you cannot use one standard to measure all of them. Definitely you cannot respond to the needs of each one of them. Each one has a specific need that should be looked at differently,” he said.

According to him, TVET provided relevant skills necessary for enhancing economic performance, reducing poverty and creating employment and stressed the need for quality TVET delivery and equitable access to be able to effectively perform its role.

He expressed dissatisfaction that the concept of TVET was largely overshadowed by the high premium placed on University Education but indicated that governments stood to benefit if they consciously use it to reduce unemployment.

He said TVET was an alternative corridor for progress and therefore unemployed university graduates could enroll in TVET to get skills for employment.

Mr Amponsah said while tertiary education gave people clear analytical understanding of issues, TVET empowered people with specific occupational skills and that a combination of it and TVET would bring rapid economic growth.

The Institute Manager, Mr Samuel Kwashie Amegbor said the institute since its establishment in 1974 has trained more than 6,500 local and international students in various vocation and technical disciplines and were excelling in their field of specialty globally.

He expressed the need for a united TVET front in Ghana.

He said vocational education in Ghana struggled to survive due to numerous challenges, which included inadequate infrastructure and obsolete tools and machines.

Mr Amegbor called on the Government and other stakeholders to help the Institute address its problem of inadequate residential accommodation for students and teaching staff.

He appealed for financial support to help tar the roads in the school, build an assembly hall and buy a bus for the school.

He said the challenges hindered the mandate of the Institute in training the youth with quality employable TVET skills to meet the demands of 21st century job market.

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Source: GNA

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