Govt to establish skills training agency

The government is set to create an agency for skills training known as the Technical and Vocational Education Services (TVES) as part of efforts to revamp the mainstream technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

The Director-General of the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, who disclosed this in Accra, said the agency to be created mid-year was to help build a robust education system with dedicated attention to TVET.

“We are pursuing several initiatives, including the MyTVET campaign, to address and reverse the negative connotations that TVET has suffered in this country,” he said.

Dr Asamoah was speaking during a validation workshop organised by the CTVET at the British Council in Accra last Wednesday.

The event afforded key stakeholders the opportunity to validate the implementation manual for the operationalisation of the National Apprenticeship Policy.

Validation workshop

Dr Asamoah said the policy was to help harmonise apprenticeship practice in the country and also create a generation of skilled people.

He said it was time to change the theory-based curriculum in the education system and focus more on apprenticeship.

No more errands

He said the days where apprentices ran errands when they should be undergoing training should be a thing of the past.

“The days of apprentices being asked to run errands by mastercraft persons should be a thing of the past.

“If we want to develop our economy and ensure there are jobs for the youth, then we all must join hands in making apprenticeship much more attractive now,” he said.

Dr Asamoah said it was the aim of the government to help produce world-class apprentices who could attract the attention of employers from every part of the world, saying that “good apprenticeship attracts good pay”.

The Country Director of the British Council, Mr Alan Rutt, expressed the commitment of the council to support apprenticeship in the country, expressing the confidence that through the policy, apprenticeship would be promoted in the country.

He commended parents who were educating their children in TVET encouraging other parents to do same.

Industry and academia

A consultant for the development of the policy and the implementation manual, Dr Charles Amoatey, said the policy when implemented would help bridge the gap between industry and academia.

He called on the public to value, support and invest in TVET, expressing the hope that significant funding would be provided to improve TVET in the country.

A National Apprenticeship Expert, Mrs Gladys Quarshie, reiterating the importance of the policy, said it would help increase skills transfer and support work-based learning.