Kofi Akordor: Our artisans and formal education
A friend recommended a mason to me when I started a project. It did not take long for me to realise that I made the right choice. The man was technically good, at least from the layperson’s perspective. But there was a snag.
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The man never stayed in the classroom beyond three years because, as he told me, his parents did not show any interest in his education. Communication was a problem as we came from different language zones in the country.
He learnt his trade as an apprentice and even though he has the skills, the language barrier and his inability to list the materials needed for the job impaired our working relationship to a very large extent. It also did not help matters in my several attempts to make suggestions about modifying the original design.
When I asked for a list from my electrician, I could hardly read anything he presented because he had the same problem – lack of formal education. Things were not different with the carpenter, the plumber and the painter. These people are with skills you cannot avoid in the construction industry.
I must admit that all these artisans who did not acquire their skills in the vocational schools, technical institutes or the polytechnics performed quite creditably and I believe they would have done even better if they were supervised at the site by the architect who did the drawings, electrical engineers/technicians and other professionals in the industry.
Training
While credit must be given to these artisans who dominate the construction industry for their performance notwithstanding their apparent handicap, it is time we addressed, with all seriousness, this major gap and deficiency in their training.
There are many technical and vocational schools that are supposed to train artisans in the country. Why we do not find these people when we need their services is a question that must engage our serious attention.
Maybe apart from the major construction firms that insist on technical education when employing such skilled labour, the rest who serve private individuals and who are in the majority fall into the category of semi-illiterate or stark illiterate artisans.
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We cannot continue to remain in this situation because building projects and, for that matter, the construction industry is becoming more and more complex and sophisticated and we require not just skills but trained minds to revolutionise and bring modernity to the sector.
We cannot discount what may not be an official policy but which is a general trend in the state of affairs. While on one hand we talk about the need for our youth to go into vocational or skills training and the need to raise the technical standards of our artisans, we, in a diametric way, treat these skilled artisans as if they are not important.
Job placement
When it comes to job placement, the mason, the plumber, the carpenter, the electrician and the painter are on the lowest ranks of the ladder. This cannot be the best way of encouraging more of the youth to branch into these areas if they have the ambition to climb higher in life.
When we treat them as menial workers and put all emphasis on those whose qualification is that they can write better English, then we must expect more illiterates in the industry.
Their simple mistakes, however, could cause disaster of enormous magnitude.
The few who train in the technical institutes and polytechnics also prefer not to work in the informal sector but with government agencies so that they can bear big titles. This does not serve the wider national interest.
Mechanics
It is not only in the construction industry that we find this anomaly. Most of the mechanics who work on our vehicles were trained as apprentices in the informal sector.
Those who did automobile engineering and allied courses in accredited technical schools and polytechnics hardly set up workshops to practise their trade.
Many vehicle owners have been victims of these mechanics who, either through wrong diagnosis or bad prescriptions and installations, have destroyed vehicles that were sent to their garages with minor faults.
Just like the construction industry, the auto industry has become very complex and sophisticated and to rely on people who learnt the trade on the job many years ago cannot augur well for our advancement as a nation.
Apart from emphasising technical and vocational education, we may have to consider how to assist some of these artisans and mechanics who were trained in the technical schools and polytechnics to set up their own companies and workshops so that the public could avail themselves of their services.
We cannot do away with the services of these semi-illiterate artisans and mechanics for years to come but our continued and total reliance on their services will also not be the best way forward for us as a country if we want to advance.
fokofi@yahoo.co.uk
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