Government urged to commit resources to vocational education
Adequately resourcing vocational training institutes would help to raise the standard of vocational education and equip students with the requisite skills for the job market, the Institute Manager of the Gomoa Adaa Vocational Training Institute, Mr Erasmus Sam, has observed.
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Speaking at a donation and fund-raising ceremony organised by the institute in aid of classroom blocks and staff bungalows at Gomoa Adaa in the Gomoa West District, Mr Sam made appealed to the government to commit more resources to deal with the infrastructure challenges facing vocational training institutes in the country.
He stated that such a move would also help to change the wrong perception that vocational schools were for unintelligent students, adding that students who opt for vocational training have the ability to achieve their future career if given the needed support and assistance.
The programme was held on the theme: “Equipping the youth with employable skills, a shared responsibility.”
He said the Gomoa Adaa Vocational Training Institute needs additional classroom blocks, hostels for students as well as bungalows for the teachers to help maintain discipline among the few students being accommodated by the school.
The unavailability of hostels for students, he said, had compelled some of the 214 students to rent rooms in town, thereby exposing them to social vices.
He said one of the ways of reducing graduate unemployment in the country was the provision of vocational training for the youth and called for adequate funding for such institutes.
The Board Chairperson of the school, Miss Comfort Obinim, said the provision of quality education for students was the responsibility of all and added that stakeholders must play their roles in order to deal with the challenges facing the educational sector.
She advised the girls to take their studies seriously, focus on their studies and desist from acts that could interfere with their education.
In an address, the Gomoa West District Director of Education, Miss Florence Inkoom, noted that the development of every civilised society was based on education and it was important that the youth were given entrepreneurial skills which would help reduce the high unemployment rate in the country.
In a speech read on his behalf, the Gomoa West District Chief Executive, Mr Theophilus Aidoo-Mensah, noted that the current educational system had been tailored towards acquiring skills for white collar jobs without much attention on vocational and technical training.
He stated that it was important that vocational training institutes were resourced with the necessary support to make them more viable.
The Executive Director of NVTI, Mr S.K. Amponsah, in a keynote address, said that the provision of vocational training for the youth would help reduce poverty as well as help in the development of the country.