‘Strengthen partnerships, policies to facilitate TVET’
St Paul Technical School has launched its 60th anniversary celebration with a call on the government to strengthen partnerships and policies that would facilitate technical and vocational education and training (TVET).
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At an event held in Accra last Saturday to launch the anniversary, the Chairman of the African Union TVET Expert Group, Dr George Mawusi Afeti, called on the government and the private sector to commit more funds to boost technical education.
The launch brought together past and present students of the school, traditional rulers, managers of TVET institutions and a section of the public.
It was on the theme: “Technical and Vocational Education: A Holistic and Pragmatic Solution for Sustainable National Development.”
TVET is key
Dr Afeti observed that the best way to produce the calibre of labour force with job-specific competencies and skills to propel economic growth and national development was for TVET to be placed at the centre of education.
“There is a growing trend of unemployment in the country with its attendant economic hardships, increase in crime wave and political violence.
“Unemployment has not only become an economic problem but also a national development issue that ought to be tackled with the right national economic policies,” he added.
He called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to come up with policies and programmes to upgrade the knowledge of teachers in the TVET.
That, he said, would ensure that the relevant and modern skills were imparted to the younger generation in a manner that would transform the country.
He further called on the public to stop the historical marginalisation of TVET, saying it took career guidance and media sensitisation to correct the misconception that TVET was the last resort for students.
Timely theme
For his part, the Principal of St Paul Technical School, Mr Benjamin Adjabeng described the theme for the anniversary as timely, adding that the way forward to addressing the national development challenges was for technical education to be prioritised.
“Most of the countries that we look up to today for support, build their economies on technical education. It is only through technical education that the heavy pressure on government for white collar jobs will be reduced,” said.
Stakeholder collaboration
The Executive Director of the Council for Technical, Vocational Education and Training (COTVET), Mr Sebastian Deh, called for collaboration among stakeholders to promote TVET, indicating that it was important to bridge the huge imbalance between “TVET and grammar education”.
He further challenged TVET institutions to be innovative in their teaching methodology to reflect the demands of modern times.
Mr Deh urged the institutions and individuals to take advantage of the Skills Development Fund (SDF) to improve themselves.