TVET: Ghana’s golden key to jobs, wealth and national development
For decades, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Ghana carried an unfair stigma, whispered about as a consolation for those who “failed” academics.
Today, that narrative has been decisively overturned. As Ghana positions itself for industrialisation and a 24-hour economy, TVET has emerged not as an alternative path, but as the very backbone of national development.
A transformation backed by numbers
The evidence of this shift is striking. Between 2018 and 2024, TVET enrolment in Ghana surged from approximately 42,000 to over 235,000 students, a nearly sixfold increase that reflects growing recognition of skills training as a viable, prestigious career pathway.
The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, captured this sentiment at the 2025 TVET Pitso forum in Botswana, declaring: “TVET is no longer a path reserved for the less academically inclined. Today, TVET is the backbone of national development.
It is our government’s top priority for industrialisation and job creation”.
This transformation is the result of deliberate policy reforms.
The Pre-Tertiary Education Act 2020 established the Ghana TVET Service, a dedicated body now overseeing public pre-tertiary TVET institutions with a clear mandate: deliver industry-led, demand-driven, competency-based training (CBT).
The skills gap: research confirms the urgency
A landmark study conducted by UNICEF Ghana and the Ghana TVET Service in the Ashanti Region between 2024 and 2025, and presented on August 28, 2025, at Lancaster Kumasi City has provided crucial evidence for reform.
The research revealed that only 24 per cent of surveyed institutions currently deliver Competency-Based Training (CBT), though its effectiveness has been proven in preparing learners for employment.
A more striking issue is that, just one, out of 57 institutions, offers agriculture-related training, even though agriculture remains a major employer in the region.
These findings arrive at a very critical moment. With youth unemployment at 21.7 per cent and over 380,000 new job seekers entering the market yearly, the question is no longer whether Ghana needs TVET, but how fast it can be scaled up.
How citizens benefit from TVET
The benefits of TVET extend far beyond the classroom. For individual Ghanaians, skills training offers multiple pathways to prosperity:
Entrepreneurship and wealth creation: Skilled artisans are increasingly becoming job creators rather than job seekers.
Graduates who once stood uncertain at life’s crossroads now run their own workshops, employ others, and contribute to local economic growth.
Global opportunities: With the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) headquartered in Accra, demand for welders, fabricators, machine operators, and technicians is soaring. Ghanaian artisans can also tap into international job markets in construction, ICT, and renewable energy.
Inclusivity and empowerment: Strategic partnerships, such as the recent MoU between CTVET and World Vision Ghana, are expanding opportunities for girls, persons with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups–ensuring TVET serves as a powerful tool for social mobility.
Practical earning potential: As an earlier publication by James A. Ansah and Charles E. Ansah noted, the plumber fixing a broken pipe often commands earnings that rival or exceed those of many university graduates.
Skilled hands are increasingly well-rewarded hands.
This should be propagated well enough for today’s youth to align themselves with the changing trend.
What the Ghana TVET Service has achieved
Since its establishment, the Ghana TVET Service has spearheaded numerous initiatives to modernise and expand skills training: Centres of excellence: Construction is underway on a state-of-the-art TVET Centre of Excellence in Salaga, Savannah Region, featuring training in Electrical Installation and Automation, Renewable Energy, Automotive Technology, ICT, and Food Processing.
Completed through a turnkey partnership with Italian firm De Lorenzo, the facility is expected to be operational by August 2026.
Similar strategic collaborations are underway between KNUST and TVET where KNUST is poised to host a TVET Centre of Excellence through TCC International Centre for Innovation, Manufacturing, Engineering, Technology Transfer, and Entrepreneurship (TCC-CIMET), leveraging the university’s Foundry and Machinery Laboratory.
National Apprenticeship Programme: This programme was launched with GHc300 million in government funding, and with full commitment from His Excellency President John Dramani Mahama.
This initiative creates sustainable pathways for young people to own their future and earn handsome amounts of money.
President Mahama noted that the results of the programme were already visible for all to see, pointing to the learners who hitherto were not certain about their future, but who now own their own workshops, giving employment to other youth.
Strategic partnerships: The TVET Service has partnered with UNICEF to conduct regional skills assessments, with research now extending to the Northern and Western Regions to inform targeted interventions.
Curriculum reforms: Through Sector Skills Bodies, industry now directly shapes curriculum development, ensuring training aligns with actual labour market demands.
What the future holds
Challenges remain–including infrastructure gaps, the need for stronger industry linkages, and lingering perception issues.
Ghana’s future will be built not only by university graduates, but by the skilled hands of electricians, welders, technicians, and innovators.
For citizens, the message is clear: TVET is not a fallback–it is a goldmine of opportunity, ready to be claimed.
Dr Eric Kofi Adzroe is the Director-General of Ghana TVET Service
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Charles Ekornunye Ansah is a Member of The Chartered Institute of Tax Law and Forensic Accountants-Ghana (CITLFAG), and an employee of Ghana TVET Service.
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James Attah Ansah is an educationist and author
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Website: https://jaansahpublications.com
