KPANTECH launches 60th anniversary
The interim vice chancellor of Ho Technical University (HOTU), Professor Emmanuel Sakyi, has noted that Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is the live wire for national growth and industrialisation.
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He said if the nation would be able to break the cycle of poverty then issues TVET must be pursued more vigorously as a matter of necessity.
Youth unemployment
Prof. Sakyi, who was addressing the launch of the 60th anniversary celebration of Kpando Technical Institute (KPANTECH) at Kpando last weekend, said the problem of youth unemployment had been a major concern for all governments the world over and described it as chronic.
He identified the over- concentration on senior high schools to the detriment of vocational and technical education, adding that most parents and guardians always insisted on their children and wards studying to become medical doctors, lawyers, accountants, bankers at the expense of carpenters, brick layers, steel benders, fashion designers and several other vocational careers.
Prof. Sakyi said the time had come for young people to be supported to acquire job-related skills in TVET in response to the challenge of youth unemployment.
In an address, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kpando constituency, Mrs Della Sowah, urged students in technical and vocational training not to underestimate their potential because they were the solution to Ghana’s unemployment crisis.
She said it was never true that only academically weak students opted for vocational and technical training and urged them to rise up to take their rightful positions as the construction brigade of district and municipal assemblies.
Commercialisation
In his address, the principal of KPANTECH, Mr Isaac K.N Bimpeh, announced that the institute had benefited from an award of $100,000 for Institutional Production Unit (IPU) that entailed the commercialisation of the welding and fabrication department.
He proudly informed the gathering that the unit had already started producing canopies, gates, window grills, roof trusses, garages and kiosks on commercial purposes.
Mr Bimpeh said almost all construction projects on the campus had been undertaken by the students and intended to use internally generated funds to expand the existing capacity to be able to admit more students.
He said the institute had already constructed a 100-capacity conference hall and also established a modern auto laboratory with a diagnostic centre and a driving school with funds from the Skills Development Fund (SDF).
Think big
The immediate past principal of KPANTECH, who is now the Ho Municipal Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Nelson Akorli, encouraged the school to think big, do away with the status quo and be abreast of the dynamics of the world in order to attract goodwill from industry.
In an address read on his behalf, the Volta Regional Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Alexander Buadi, said the institute had achieved another milestone at 60 years and urged both teachers and students to explore higher heights to show class in the years ahead.
The chief of Kpando Tsakpe, Togbe Dake IV, recounted that the establishment of the technical institute was a legacy from the British colonial government, having left behind €2 million for the construction of some roads and schools.