Neglect of technical, vocational training costs country
Ghana is paying dearly for the neglect of technical and vocational education and training, allowing foreigners to take over jobs that require technical skills, a report on the National Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Strategic Plan has said.
Advertisement
“Skilled artisans from neighbouring countries are preferred for certain jobs like tiling and masonry work. Skilled persons have to be imported to execute major projects, for example, building of malls and major construction works. Because we do not have competitive skilled labour, we have to give other forms of incentives such as huge tax waivers to attract foreign investors,” the report said.
The report was presented by Dr Henry A. Akplu, an expert on TVET, to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education and stakeholders in vocational and technical education at a meeting in Accra yesterday.
Organised by the Council for Technical and Vocational Educational and Training (COTVET), the meeting was,
The plan is designed to promote and drive the development of skills in the country.
The plan
The development of the draft 10-year costed plan was led by (COTVET), under its development of skills for industry project (DSIP), with support from the African Development Bank (AfDB) and in collaboration with stakeholders from the ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), development partners, industry and institutions – both public and private – involved in TVET.
Across the world, especially in the developed economies, vocational and technical education is widely accepted as the backbone of industries, but in Ghana, some of the polytechnics expected to produce the needed human resource to feed industries are diverting their attention to social sciences.
The plan, therefore, seeks to address weaknesses in TVET education, including poor skills, knowledge and attitudes among graduates and also issues of inadequate financing, obsolete and inadequate training facilities, under-representation of females in engineering and technology-related fields, as well as neglect of non-formal TVET, especially the apprenticeship system.
Other Trending Stories
Currently, COTVET figures indicate that there are an estimated 500,000 people in apprenticeship training in different fields across the country in the informal sector.
Dr Akplu stressed the importance of ensuring that these trainees acquire quality skills that would make them thrive in the current competitive industry environment.
He stressed that it was time the country put premium on certification to the extent that even barbers needed to be certified to operate.
In spite of its crucial role in nation building, Ghana does not have a policy on TVET.
To turn the situation around, Dr Akplu persuaded Parliament to, among other things, provide sustained and adequate funding allocation to TVET and provide laws to govern the sector.
Achievement of COTVET
The Executive Director of COTVET, Mr Sebastian Deh, in an overview of the achievement and works of the council, said a recent pilot project which involved equipment to the Takoradi and Kumasi polytechnics showed an increase in enrolment from 30 to 500 students.
He said so far, the Skills Development Fund established by COTVET had disbursed substantial resources to more than 60,000 beneficiaries across sectors.
Contributing to the discussions, a ranking member of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education, Professor Dominic Fobih, expressed worry about the inability of the country’s technical and vocational training to bring out products that met local needs and international competitiveness.
Prof. Fobih also urged the council not to use its need for certification to eliminate people in the informal sector who may not be able to meet the standards.
“What you probably need to do is to tell the public what they can get from certified people and those who are not certified,” he added.