The government has pledged to give strong support to technical universities and polytechnics – to raise the quality of their training, to drive the nation’s industrialization.
Deputy Education Minister, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, said: “we cannot underestimate the place of technical university and polytechnic training in the country’s onward march towards prosperity”.
It was on the basis of this that the government was determined to give sufficient attention to technical and vocational education and training (TVET) – to churn out products with “the needed practical application of knowledge or technical skills that were structured to meet “our economic and social challenges”.
Speaking at the 12th congregation held by the Kumasi Technical University (KTU) in Kumasi, he asked that these institutions aligned their programmes to address the development needs of the country.
A total of 2,569 students, made up of 1,543 males and 1,016 females graduated, and were awarded degree and higher national diploma certificates.
They pursued among others, programmes in chemical engineering, electrical, automobile, plant, metallurgy and foundry engineering, creative arts and technology, estate management, interior architecture and furniture production, dispensing technology, hotel catering and institutional management, computer science, purchasing and supply, accountancy and accounting with computing.
Dr. Adutwum indicated that the nation required well-trained manpower – with the requisite skills and competencies from this sector of education to lead its industrial growth.
He made reference to the industrialized world and said “the ratio in the distribution formula of the labour force generally shows that the technical work-force with practical skills greatly out-numbers those with raw knowledge”.
The Minister added that, “technical universities in Ghana, just like their counterparts anywhere, must take their rightful place in finding solutions to challenges”.
Professor Asiamah Yeboah, the acting Vice Chancellor of the University, appealed to the government to review the working conditions of the staff to prevent them from leaving in search of greener pastures.
He warned that brain drain could defeat the very purpose for which the polytechnics were converted to technical universities.
He said it was time priority was focused on technical and vocational education to provide the skilled manpower for the nation’s socio-economic development.