China-Africa TVET Cooperation builds KsTU lecturers' capacity
A Lecturer at the Mechanical Engineering Department of the Kumasi Technical University (KsTU), Joseph Kwame Lewballah, has advocated a shared responsibility on the part of stakeholders for the effective implementation of the China-Africa TVET Cooperation Programme.
“It is important that we own the programme to help transform the face of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) for Ghana’s accelerated development,” Mr Lewballah told the Daily Graphic in an interview.
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This was on the sidelines of a four-day capacity-building training programme, targeting civil and mechanical engineering lecturers of the KsTU, which was organised by the China Education Association for International Exchange (CEAIE), under its Future of Africa initiative dubbed ‘China-Africa TVET Cooperation Programme’.
The programme exposed the participants, (selected from the Kumasi and Adako-Jachie campuses of the university) to some topics ranging from the introduction and basic operation of numerical control loathe, processing sequence input, milling machine numerical control processing repair to learning about hydraulic components.
Programme areas
They also went through an instrument test run and data analysis, application of basic drawing commands, basic principles of dimensioning, data processing, general car usage precautions, as well as maintenance and repair key points.
Mr Lewballah, the acting Head of the KsTU Mechanical Engineering Department, said the capacity-building programme was apt as it had given the lecturers an insight into the practical needs of their areas of expertise.
Embracing TVET, according to him, had become a necessity for the nation, “if Ghana is to produce the requisite human resource with the right skills and knowledge for the job market”.
The programme, he said, had come at the appropriate time, following the government’s recent inauguration of an ultra-modern mechanical engineering workshop at the Adako-Jachie Campus of the KsTU.
Resource person
A Resource Person for the China Education Association for International Exchange, in an interview with Sean Liu said the China-Africa TVET Cooperation Programme, had the objective of supporting African youth to improve technical and vocational skills.
This would help promote socio-economic growth and development on the continent, as well as enhancing mutual understanding and friendship between China and Africa.
The implementation of the programme is expected to last a total of five to 10 years, depending on the needs and outcomes under the three main categories, including skills training and certification, capacity-building programme for administrators and teachers, as well as applied talents joint teaching programme.