Lack of blueprint affecting technical education — Ablakwa
The lack of a blueprint to guide successive governments and development partners in investment in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has been a major challenge in the progress of technical education in the country.
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The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of tertiary education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, who identified this, recalled,“In the past few years, we have made many recommendations at the policy level regarding the future of TVET.
“These include the increase in budgetary allocation, rebranding of TVET, institutional and human resource development, curriculum review and development, among others. All these cannot see the light of day in the absence of a strategic plan that embodies proposed reforms,” he stressed.
Strategic plan workshop
Mr Ablakwa was speaking at a validation workshop to develop a National TVET Strategic Plan to boost technical and vocational education in the country.
The workshop, organised by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET), brought together technocrats to brainstorm on a draft strategic plan for consideration and adoption as a blueprint at a later workshop.
Already, similar workshops had been held earlier to look at propositions by consultants who developed the draft plan.
Government’s commitment
Mr Ablakwa said the government had not relaxed on its commitment to revamping the TVET sector as part of efforts to improve technical education in the country.
He said the government, through the development of the skills for industry project, with funding from the African Development Bank, was training 500 master craft persons, providing scholarships for 4,000 students and apprentices, as well as providing scholarships for TVET instructors to enable them to upgrade their skills.
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In addition, he said through the project, the government was rehabilitating 13 TVET institutions nationwide to upgrade them to ultra-modern learning centres.
“However, the framework within which all these interventions and many others that are ongoing can be mainstreamed and sustained for greater impact is the national TVET strategic plan,” he said.
He said he was hopeful that such consultative fora could lead to the development of a TVET strategic plan, which would serve the country well, drive development and ensure that “we are able to meet our development targets.”
Vision
One of the consultants who developed the propositions, Dr Henry Akplu, who took the participants through the proposals, explained that the vision of the proposed plan was to ensure that by 2025, each region would have 10 model TVET providers, which would set a benchmark for further development of a world-class demand-driven education and training system.
He said the propositions were grouped under five goals, which addressed all the concerns and expectations such as the legal, funding, industrial-driven, assessment and qualification framework, as well as the development of an evidence-based management and data-driven decision making.
The Executive Director of COTVET, Mr Sebastian Deh, who welcomed the participants, acknowledged the contribution of participants and urged them to continue to enable the realisation of a document that would move technical education in the country to a higher level.