According to President Akufo-Addo, “we want to emphasize the importance of TVET, and redeem the misconception that technical and vocational education is inferior, and patronized only by less-endowed students.”

[contextly_sidebar id=”p2E79ANQyvEYVVSUw5ZGOCeOAXf624Bs”]It is with these goals in mind that Government has taken the decision to align and bring all public TVET institutions in the country under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Education to streamline their curricula, and improve the co-ordination of their training.

A Deputy Minister for Education, Barbara Asher Ayisi, is, therefore, going to be specifically responsible, at the Ministry, for technical and vocational education.

President Akufo-Addo was speaking at the centenary celebrations of Asuansi Technical Institute, in Asuansi, in the Central Region.

The President told the gathering that Government is tackling the perennial infrastructure problems of the TVET sector.

Work, he said, will start soon on the construction of 20 modern TVET institutions in various areas of the country, together with the upgrading of some 35 National and Vocational Training Institutes as well as Colleges of Education that specialize in technology.

The President added that a major revision of the curricula of TVET schools is underway to make them relevant to the needs of Ghana’s changing economy.

“We recognise that science, technology and technical skills rule industry, and you rule yourself out if you are not appropriately equipped. Every child must be offered the opportunity to bring out her inherent talents for innovation. It is in the laboratories and workshops that young people get the opportunity to expand their imagination, and develop the skills that would equip them for the modern world,” he said

President Akufo-Addo continued, “We need to modernise all aspects of our lives, and we need skilled people to lead the modernisation process. If we are to transform the structure of our economy from one dependent on the production and export of raw materials, to a value-added, industrialised one, then students from technical institutions, such as yours, are crucial.”

Misplaced priorities?

Nana Akufo-Addo had earlier said his government will this year extend the free Senior High School initiative to cover technical and vocational institutions in the country.

However, in response to the developments in the sector, a former Deputy Minister of Education under the John Mahama administration, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has observed that there are more pressing challenges confronting TVET having to do with infrastructure and patronage.

“The challenge confronting technical vocational education in our country is not an issue of affordability. It is about investing in the sector. TVET is very expensive. You need the tools. You need the equipment… they have not raised additional funds for TVET and that is really where we need to pay attention,” he said in a Citi News interview earlier in March.

He noted that monetary commitment from the Akufo-Addo administration’s first two budgets left a lot to be desired despite its pledges to the sector.

“The 2017 budget, the 2018 budget, the GETFund formula for 2018 did not address this. If we had not secured the $125 million, there would have been no funding for TVET… they are only relying on the $125 million we raised for the development of skills for Industry projects.”

“Secondly, how to re-brand… the challenge in our country is that the youth do not find TVET attractive so everybody wants to obtain grammar type education,” he added.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Speaking on Eyewitness News, Mr. Ablakwa said this was “mere rhetoric” that will not address the main TVET challenges.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WsRsuXmvleL48kzW5iaYBwcWKyTKegUl”]He was commenting on President Nana Akufo-Addo’s announcement that this initiative will be launched later in the in 2018 to help equip the youth with skills for the transformation of the Ghanaian economy.

The initiative implies that, students within the various technical and vocational institutions will attend school free of charge.

Also speaking on Eyewitness News, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, a Deputy Education Minister, said over 200 TVET institutions are expected to benefit from this.

The TVET institutions would come under the umbrella of the yet-to-be-established Technical Vocational Education Service.

Initiative nothing new

Mr. Ablakwa remarked that this initiative was nothing new.

The 2018 budget indicated that TVET reforms will see the alignment of public TVET institutions under the Ministry of Education.

“The impression that we got from the President’s speech was as though there was going to be a special programme for TVET. It is exactly not the case. It is clear that some TVET institutions are benefiting as we were told… What is really going to happen now is a realignment of TVET institutions that are now going to be brought under the Ministry of Education,” he pointed out.

But the former deputy Minister said there were more pressing challenges confronting TVET having to do with infrastructure and patronage.

“The challenge confronting technical vocational education in our country is not an issue of affordability. It is about investing in the sector. TVET is very expensive. You need the tools. You need the equipment… they have not raised additional funds for TVET and that is really where we need to pay attention.”

He noted that monetary commitment from the Akufo-Addo administration’s first two budgets left a lot to be desired.

“The 2017 budget, the 2018 budget, the GETFund formula for 2018 did not address this. If we had not secured the $125 million, there would have been no funding for TVET… they are only relying on the $125 million we raised for the development of skills for Industry projects.”

“Secondly, how to re-brand… the challenge in our country is that the youth do not find TVET attractive so everybody wants to obtain grammar type education,” he added.

Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Deputy Education Minister, agreed with Mr. Ablakwa’s claim that some TVET institutions were already benefiting from the Free SHS.

According to him, about 47 schools in that sector are indeed covered under the Free SHS policy.

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By: Delali Adogla-Bessa/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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He said the initiative will be launched later in the year to help equip the youth with skills for the transformation of the Ghanaian economy.

The initiative implies that, students within the various technical and vocational institutions as well as technical universities in Ghana will attend school free of charge.

Ghana currently has some form of free education from the basic level up to the senior high school level.

Delivering a keynote address at the National Conference on Technical and Vocational Educational and Training (TVET), at the Koforidua Technical University on Thursday, President Akufo-Addo said the free technical education will run parallel with the free basic and senior high school programme.

“This year, we are taking an equally dramatic and important step to align education to our needs.  We are this year launching the flip side of Free SHS. Government is launching a system of free technical and vocational education that runs parallel to the high school or secondary school. We are aiming to provide our young people with technical and vocational skills at both the secondary and tertiary sectors of education, to enable graduates employ themselves, and employ others after their training,” he added.

Akufo-Addo said the strategy of his government is to expand technical and vocational opportunities at both secondary and tertiary levels, and thereby strengthen the linkages between education and industry, as well as empower young people to deploy their skills to employ themselves and others.

“What I envisage in the technical and vocational education sector would involve a truly radical change in attitude on the part of all of us. Throughout the years, enough lip service has been paid to the TVET sector,” he said.

The President further stressed that “this time we are backing the talk with money and political will. This time, the interventions will be focused and seen through to proper conclusion.”

Nana Addo also told participants at the conference that his government is starting with the launch of a major project that will emphasize the importance of TVET, and redeem the misconception that technical and vocational education is inferior, and patronized only by less endowed students.

“We are aligning and bringing all public TVET institutions in the country under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Education to streamline their curricula, and improve the co-ordination of their training. To this end, one Deputy Minister for Education is to be specifically responsible for technical and vocational education, like there is a dedicated Minister of State for Tertiary Education,” he said.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
Follow @AlloteyGodwin

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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

The post Cabinet approves strategic plan for technical education appeared first on Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. Always.

He said in a statement on Saturday that the definition of poor and working-class students will now refer to “currently enrolled TVET Colleges or university students from South African households with a combined annual income of up to R350 000” by the 2018 academic year.

The Higher Education Minister would revise this amount periodically in consultation with the Finance Minister.

“Having amended the definition of poor and working-class students, the government will now introduce fully subsidised free higher education and training for poor and working-class South African undergraduate students, starting in 2018 with students in their first year of study at our public universities,” Zuma said.

“Students categorised as poor and working class, under the new definition, will be funded and supported through government grants not loans.”

This effectively means that Zuma has overruled the recommendations of the Heher Commission into the Feasibility of Fee-Free Higher Education and Training.

Zuma’s announcement comes on the day the ANC’s watershed 54th elective conference is expected to begin. A new leader of the party will be elected at the conference.

The Heher Commission had previously found that there is currently no capacity for the state to provide free tertiary education to all students.

The report recommended that undergraduate and postgraduate students studying at both public and private universities and colleges, regardless of their family background, should be funded through a cost-sharing model of government guaranteed “Income-Contingency Loans”, sourced from commercial banks.

The commission recommended that, through the model, commercial banks would issue government guaranteed loans to students.

Zuma released the Heher Commission report in November following media reports that he was preparing to announce a plan to introduce free tertiary education, which Morris Masutha, the apparent ex-boyfriend of his daughter, had allegedly devised.

Funding of post-school education and training

In Saturday’s statement, Zuma announced that education was an apex priority for government’s pro-poor policies, and committed to increase subsidies to universities from 0.68% to 1% of the GDP over the next five years, as recommended by the Heher Commission.

He said this was in line with comparable economies, in order to address the overall gross underfunding of the sector.

“This will be done in order to kick-start a skills revolution towards and in pursuit of the radical socio-economic transformation programme as outlined during the 2017 State of the Nation Address,” he said.

Public TVET Colleges

Zuma said that the provision of fully subsidised free education and training would be extended to all current and future poor and working class South African students at all public TVET (Technical Vocational Education and Training) colleges starting in 2018 and would be phased-in over a period of five years.

“All poor and working class South African students enrolled at public TVET Colleges will be funded through grants not loans,” he said.

Zuma said the full cost of study would include tuition fee, prescribed study material, meals, accommodation and/or transport.

He said government would further invest in the training and development of existing TVET staff as well as the recruitment of additional qualified staff to improve the quality of teaching and learning at TVET Colleges.

“Funds will also be directed towards the improvement of infrastructure in the TVET sector,” he said.

NSFAS

Zuma said National Student Financial Aid Scheme packages already allocated to existing NSFAS students in their further years of study will be converted from loans to 100% grants effective immediately.

He said this policy intervention would enable government to extend fully subsidized free higher education to youth from well over 90% of South African households.

Zuma said the matter of historic NSFAS debt, due to its complexity, would be dealt with by the Minister of Higher Education after due diligence has been undertaken by that department, the department of planning, monitoring and evaluation and the National Treasury to determine the quantum of funding required.

Student accommodation

Zuma said the construction of new student accommodation and refurbishment of old student housing at both universities and TVET colleges would be given urgent attention, with priority given to historically disadvantaged institutions.

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Source: News24

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It suggested that while pupils in the kindergarten and lower primary should study only numeracy, literature and physical education, those in upper primary and students in junior high school (JHS) should be made to study six subjects, instead of nine.

In a communique issued at the end of the 24th annual conference of CODE at Abesim, near Sunyani, last Saturday, the conference expressed the view that the use of chalk had outlived its usefulness in schools and, therefore, suggested that blackboards should be replaced with whiteboards and markers provided for use by teachers.

The communique, signed by the National President and the National Secretary of CODE, Mrs Margaret Frempong-Kore, and Mr Isaac Nsiah Edwards, respectively, did not assign any reasons for the proposal to the educational authorities to reduce the number of subjects being studied at the basic level.

However, in an interview, Mrs Frempong-Kore explained that at the Kindergarten and lower primary levels, the major problem now was literacy and numeracy.

“By the time that the child leaves the lower primary, if he cannot read, he cannot grasp other subjects taught at Upper Primary and the JHS levels,” she said.

She further explained that the conference also wanted the subjects taught at the upper primary and the JHS levels to be reduced from nine to six because there was a challenge about reading currently.

Justifying the contention of CODE for the subject to be reduced, Mrs Frempong-Kore said  the subjects had to be reduced to enable the pupils to concentrate on the basics of the subjects they would pursue at the senior high school (SHS) level. “With the low level of reading, studying nine subjects gets the students rather confused,” she added.

Free SHS policy

The CODE, in its communique issued at the end of  its meeting, said as much as CODE supported the free SHS policy, “we recommend an increase in advocacy through the distribution of hard copies of guidelines on the policy”.

It also called for the timely payment of all subsidies in relation to the programme to prevent delayed payments during its implementation, a feature that was associated with the National Health Insurance Scheme (NHIS), the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP), the progressively free SHS and the Capitation Grant.

It also expressed concern over the lack of textbooks and, in some cases, inadequacies in the provision of teaching and play materials and called for an immediate solution to the problem.

Pre-school education

“There is a big deficit in the supply of furniture at the basic level,” the communique stated, and suggested that the award of contract for the production and distribution of furniture should be done at the district level to ensure quality,  appropriateness and timely delivery.

“We are suggesting that the construction of new primary schools should have kindergartens attached, while the training of early childhood education teachers should be encouraged by increasing the quota for study leave,” it said.

TVET courses

The communique recommended that facilities at Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions should be redesigned and improved to attract females and persons with disability.

“Effective inputs such as government of Ghana grants, vehicles, residential and office accommodation, as well as office equipment, should be made available to the education directorates for effective delivery of directors’ mandate,” it said.

It said CODE supported the licensing of teachers by the National Teaching Council to improve on teachers’ professional competence, but recommended that there should be more education on the issue.

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Source: Graphic.com.gh

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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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