Ignatius Baffour-Awuah, Minister of Employment and Labour Relations, has urged institutions to embrace Precision Quality in all training programmes in order to unlock the skills and competences of young people to meet the changing needs of the world of work, for quality jobs in Ghana, the Africa Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and the global labour market.
The Precision Quality (PQ) curriculum consists of five training modules: including change to grow, process integration, people and team development, health and safety in the workplace, and managing quality and customer relations.
According to the minister, establishing a national PQ policy that will ensure Technical & Vocational Educational Training (TVET) and master-craftmanship is infused with a PQ curriculum, will create thousands of sustainable jobs and work opportunities for young Ghanaian women and men. He urged the Ministry of Education (MoE) to also integrate it into learning outcomes of senior high schools.
“The world of work is changing, the International Labour Organisation in 2019 – at its international labour conference – dedicated the whole conference to the future of work, and we thought the future of work was far away from us; but little did we know that COVID-19 was going to bring it to us this faster.
“Whether we like it or not, the future of work is real and as a nation we have no choice other than to prepare and adapt to that change. Otherwise, we will be here and other countries will prepare for it; and before we realise, people will be in America and Europe and working in our country Ghana…and our youth will become redundant,” he said.
He added that the reason why PQ is now very important to the TVET space is that no matter how the world of work changes, TVET will continue to be one area that remains relevant; so, preparing the population for the future of work as a nation should then focus on TVET.
He made these remarks in his address at the National Precision Quality Policy Stakeholders Conference, held at the La Beach Hotel to commence the development of a national policy for precision quality training in Ghana.
The consultative conference, held under the theme ‘Unlocking the skills and competencies of young people for quality jobs in Ghana and the globalised labour market’, brought together key state and non-state stakeholders: including the Ghana Standards Authority (GSA), Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Principals of Technical Universities, Academia, and Master Craft persons to provide input into a national policy on PQ as a key component of the TVET education in Ghana.
Taking her turn, the CEO of Design & Technology Institute (DTI), Constance Elizabeth Swaniker, emphasised that a national policy on PQ will ensure students and apprentices are assessed by PQ experts for certification after completing course modules, to provide the basis for hiring and inform salaries and benefits as well as promotions and career progression.
Director-General of National Development Planning Committee (NDPC), Dr. Kodjo Mensah-Abrampa, on his part stated that the skills development constraints identified are limited number of skilled industial personnel and the mismatch to industial needs.
“Our proposal for the medium-term will be to ensure improved skills development for industry by transforming the apprenticeship training model. This will help consolidate our gains in skills training and position our youth for the future of work,” he said.
