$700m Spent on TVET infrastructure — Dr Opoku Prempeh

The government has invested over $700 million in the building of infrastructure and improvement of quality Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the country.

The investment is part of the five-year strategic plan (2018 - 2022) to transform TVET.

The plan is also tied to the broader Education Sector Plan (ESP) which is being implemented by the Ministry of Education.

Under the strategic plan, two modern TVET institutions are being constructed in each of the 16 regions, while work is still ongoing on the construction of foundries and machining in some parts of the country.

TVET Expo

The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh, stated this at the launch of the 2020 TVET Expo in Accra yesterday.

The expo, which was done by photo and physical exhibition by some of the players in the TVET space, showcased some achievements under TVET.

As part of the expo, eight TVET ambassadors who will use their influence to make TVET more appealing to the youth in the country, were introduced

"We are upgrading 17 technical and vocational institutes across the country and building an office complex to support the unit responsible for TVET examination.

“Additionally, infrastructure and equipment are being provided at all technical universities to achieve quality delivery at the tertiary level with industry 4.0 standards," Dr Prempeh intimated.

Competency-based training

Touching on other achievements, the minister said the government had implemented a competency-based training (CBT) policy, with over 124 TVET institutions accredited.

Through the implementation, the minister said 42 CBT curricula had been developed with more underway, indicating that the aim was to ensure that all TVET institutions would be using the CBT approach as a model of instruction and issue certificates by 2022.

In order to ensure the apprenticeship training was properly regulated, Dr Prempeh said the ministry had also submitted a draft national apprenticeship policy to Cabinet for approval.

He said the policy set out the mechanisms required to strengthen the apprenticeship system in the country to help improve opportunities for youth employment.

Reducing youth unemployment

 At the event, the First Lady, Mrs Rebecca Akufo-Addo, who was described as the Principal Ambassador of TVET, said the programme was the surest way to reduce youth unemployment in the country.

"As the number of young people increases, there is the need for government to device strategies to create sustainable employment opportunities and TVET is the way to go," she said.
The First Lady added that TVET was going to enable more people to participate in the world of work which would further bring about financial independence and also contribute to national revenue mobilisation.

She, however, said: "As the principal ambassador of TVET, our work is going to be targeted at students at the basic stage, women and persons with special needs, and disadvantaged persons in the society".

Mrs Akufo-Addo said those categories of persons needed to be more aware of their strengths, talents and also to be guided to make use of opportunities that were available in skilled professions.

Digitisation

The Board Chairman of the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET), Mr Francis Awua-Kyeremanten, added that as part of the strategic plan to transform TVET, the processes involved in registration and accreditation of COTVET had been digitised.

"It is necessary to make use of technology to make the processes of getting new members and accreditation fast, transparent and efficient. It also makes it easier to retrieve and access data.

The board chairman added that COTVET was also going to organise capacity building programmes to equip the staff with the needed skills to operate the digital system.