The narrative for Technical and Vocational Training is changing in the country as over 50,000 students have enrolled on various TVET schools nationwide.
The Director-General of Ghana TVET Service, Mawuse Nudekor Awity, disclosed this in an interview with Adom News‘ Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa,
She said 50,899 students are already in school pursuing various TVET courses as compared to last year’s figure of 47,000 plus students.
The Director-General stated the service is surprised about the astronomical increment.
“This year, top BECE graduates chose TVET schools which is contrary to the erroneous belief that non-performing students after not gaining admission to various secondary schools then resort to technical and vocational training.
“The increment is a result of the flagship Free TVET being implemented by the Akufo-Addo-led government which some West African countries are still wondering how the magic was done,” she said.
According to Ghana TVET Service, some CEOs were among the parents who drove to the premises and other TVET schools to seek admission for their wards, something that rarely occurs.
To her, this is evident that TVET yields more returns than grammar education in both the secondary and tertiary levels because its focus was on providing work-relevant hands-on skills.
Mrs Awity emphasised how skills are important avenue to increasing incomes and sustaining livelihoods for the poor and since more new jobs in developing countries were created in the informal sector, it was crucial that skill training in that sector was also improved.
She touted technical and vocational education and training is the solution to youth unemployment in Ghana.
On the retooling of various TVET schools, Mrs Awity stated that upgrading and resourcing of workshops in technical and vocational education and training institutions across the country are ongoing to help in training skilled students who will be readily available for the job market after completion.
She added that more schools will be added to help in achieving the government’s transformational agenda of getting the workforce readily available for Ghana’s development.
She was of the view that as more and more people are getting interested and taking advantage of the skills training, a time is coming that Ghana as a country will not have to hire expatriates to do most of its road construction and other big projects.
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