Some captains of industry have called for a national dialogue to look at ways of addressing the frustrations some graduates go through in securing an industry-related posting during National Service Scheme (NSS) deployment.
It has been noted that even when posted to some industries and institutions, acceptance becomes a challenge for national service personnel as some are rejected and asked to go for reposting multiple times because of skills-mismatch.
The Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET) Ghana has stressed the need for stakeholders – including government, industry and the various universities – to come together and discuss how the postings can be done seamlessly for the benefit of all, so that graduates are not rejected at some institutions and asked to go for re-posting.
President of IET-Ghana, Henry Kwadwo Boateng, following the recent postings mentioned that he had been inundated with concerns from engineering graduates who were posted to various institutions but asked to go for re-posting because those institutions did not have space to accommodate them.
He said what’s even more frustrating is when personnel are asked to look for organisations by themselves for them to be re-posted there – adding that if such a practice existed in the past, it should not be allowed to continue.
“Almost all the engineering students on various campuses have chapters, and they give us a lot of information to that effect in their postings. We receive information from them that when they are posted to some organisations and industries, they are rejected because those places are full; and since they could not be taken-on, had to go for re-posting.
“When it happens like that, it becomes very disturbing; and for the IET-Ghana, we think this has to be looked at to prevent graduates from going through those difficulties. So, I think it’s time for us to have a conversation on how we should go about it, by putting our heads together to look at how best we can do so,” he said.
Furthermore, he emphasised that with the free senior high school (SHS) programme’s introduction, universities had increased their admissions to accommodate a larger number of students.
He said with industry not yet expanding to cater for the large number of graduates coming out every year, it is prudent to look at how the service postings can possibly be done without making prospective service persons go through stress to serve their country.
“With free SHS, the universities are producing a lot of graduates; meanwhile, industry is not expanding to take care of that large number. So,industry itself has a concern because it does not have enough space to accommodate the service persons,” he added
