Let's prioritise TVET in Africa to develop — AU Commissioner for Education

The African Union (AU) Commissioner for Education, Science, Technology and Innovation, Prof. Mohammed Belhocine, has said there is no way the African continent will develop without focusing on technical, vocational education and training (TVET).

He said no country could develop without prioritising TVET at all levels of the educational system.

"We are happy to find a government that is willing to give TVET priority and which takes steps to shed light on the issues because we would not develop our continent without developing TVET from the basic skills to the most sophisticated innovative and new skills that are emerging with the development of artificial intelligence (AI), digital tools and digital methods," he said.

Prof. Belhocine said that when he led a four-member delegation to pay a courtesy call on the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, in Accra yesterday.

Prof. Belhocine, who is in Accra for the Africa Skills Week Conference, which started yesterday, expressed concern about the lack of adequate attention to TVET on the continent.

Conference

Prof. Belhocine said the organisation of the conference was very timely because it would "sort of tick one box in our roadmap for the theme of the year and we are going to tick it with a very strong content, given the number of participants that I have seen and also, given the programme that has been put in place”.

He lauded Dr Adutwum for his collaboration and contribution, and all the other partners and sponsors, adding that the conference was a collective responsibility of all.

Commendation

For his part, Dr Adutwum commended Prof. Belhocine for his leadership in education on the continent.

He said when the West supported the education of the African child, it was also supporting the development of their countries, explaining that invariably, African children found themselves working in those developed countries in the West.

"So, we are grateful for that push that you make at various fora, underscoring that the whole world owes it to ourselves to educate the children of Africa. I'm very grateful to the President of Ghana for his leadership in education," the minister said.

Commitment by President

He said the President provided anything and everything that was needed and made sure “we can forge ahead and develop education every single day".

TVET schools, he said, were part of new schools that were being built and that it was amazing to see that even in a post-COVID era with limited resources, new TVET schools were being built.

Dr Adutwum said TVET schools in Ghana would not be different from those that were in the United Kingdom (UK) or any other country, adding that those new schools would have everything that was needed for effective teaching and learning.

Present at the meeting were the Deputy Minister of Education in charge of TVET, Prof. Kingsley Nyarko, and the Director General of the CTVET, Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah.