Government will soon launch a national strategic plan aimed at properly mainstreaming Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) into the country’s educational system.
The plan encompasses a wide-ranging policy revolution, including curriculum revision of TVET institutions, construction of 20 modern TVT institutions, and upgrading 35 NVTIs as well as some colleges of education that specialise in technology.
The strategic plan is expected to be unveilled at a National conference on TVET, slated for March 14 to 16 at Koforidua in the Eastern Region. The conference will be formally opened by President Nana Akufo-Addo.
The theme for the conference is ‘Reinventing Technical and Vocational Education in Ghana: From Vision to Action’. Seven countries are scheduled to be represented at the conference – China, Ghana, Finland, Germany, Nigeria, South Africa and the UK.
Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Prof. Kwesi Yankah, announced this at the 10th congregation of the Sunyani Technical University. He said the conference should enable participants to put the state of TVET in Ghana into a broad perspective, and position the country to learn and adopt best practices from across the globe.
“The lesson learnt in Africa’s educational system is our low capacity in skills development: our inability to generate knowledge and enable the development of skills among the youth and the workforce. Skills development in TVET is what will transform Africa’s economies and drastically reduce unemployment,” he said.
“The strategy, then, has been to expand technical and vocational opportunities at both secondary and tertiary levels, and thereby strengthen the linkages between education and industry as well as give opportunities for the young ones to be masters of their own destiny, deploying their skills to employ themselves and others,” he stated.
Prof. Yankah pointed out that government’s agenda to transform TVET is also meant to raise the value of technical and vocational education, and turn out a talented young population that will apply TVET skills in meeting the needs of industry and technology while giving others the opportunity to enrol in technical universities.
