Ministry discusses technical education with Finnish delegation

The Ministry of Education on Tuesday engaged a 27-member business delegation from Finland in a meeting to learn from them how the Finnish Government had been able to make technical education attractive to its people.

The sector Minister, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, said it was clear that technical and vocational education was the best way to go, but pointed out that the challenge in Ghana had been the perception that technical education was for dropouts, saying she believed that was not helping the cause of technical education.

Students’ preference

Professor Opoku-Agyemang said most of the students preferred the traditional academic way of education to that of the technical education, apparently because of the perception about such programmes and said but with time “we will get there”.

She said technical and vocational education was a complex enterprise and called for collaboration between the two countries to help Ghana get to where Finland had reached.

“I want you to enlighten me a little bit on technical education training in your country. How you people have been able to overcome the issue of the perception that technical education is for the dropout,” she said.

Distance education
she told the delegation that distance education was an effective way of attaining tertiary education in the country and sought to know how the Finns run theirs.

“We will like to know, for example, whether it works well with the workforce where individuals want to improve themselves or the young ones who are going in for the basics?” Professor Opoku-Agyemang inquired.

SDGs

Touching on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Professor Opoku-Agyemang said even though goal four focused on education, a careful look at all the 17 goals revealed that more than 11 were strongly linked to education.

She said that was understandable because education covered every aspect of life, adding that there was, therefore, the need to redouble efforts in addressing educational challenges.

Scholarship

Professor Opoku-Agyemang said even though technology could not be done away with entirely, effort should still be made for face-to-face contacts to enhance relations.

Contributing, the Deputy Minister in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, sought to know how the two countries could collaborate in granting scholarship to Ghanaian students to learn in their country.

He said that could better solidify the relationship between the two countries and also help the students to learn the culture of the Finns.

Technical education in Finland

Responding, the Deputy Minister for External and Economic Relations of Finland, Mr Matti Anttonen, said it took 10 to 15 years for the country to appreciate the importance of technical education.

He said he was pleased to say that currently, the Finnish society had dispelled the notion that technical education was for dropouts.

Mr Anttonen said education was the best investment for the future, explaining that the people of Finland saw education as a priority because for a country to develop its people, it required quality education.

He said with technology, the country was shifting gradually to a state where students all over the world needed not to travel to Finland for education but could acquire quality Finnish education from their home countries.

Ambassador on quality education

The Finnish Ambassador to Nigeria and Ghana, Ms Piijo Suomela-Churdhury, said the country’s government ensured that there was equal opportunity for all Finnish children to have access to quality education, irrespective of their location and social standing.

“Over a decade, we have had education as an instrument for social mobility,” she said, adding that she was proud of the Finnish educational system because it was free and of good quality to all.

Writer's Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh