The Ghana Education Service (GES) has launched the National Entrepreneurship Programme for Senior High Schools (NEP-SHS) to equip students with entrepreneurial skills.
This initiative is aimed at helping to create jobs for the youth in the future, rather than depending solely on paid employment.
It is in partnership with Procus Ghana Limited, the parent company of KIVO Foods, intended to nurture entrepreneurship among students before they complete secondary education.
The launch had in attendance GES officials, representatives of Procus Ghana Limited and staff and students of Achimota School, Wesley Grammar School, the Accra STEM School, Ebenezer Senior High School, Accra Girls' Senior High School, Presbyterian Senior High School, Legon, and West Africa Senior School.
Pilot
The programme will begin as a 10-month pilot in Achimota School, Wesley Grammar School and Accra STEM School.
The pilot schools will deliver five structured entrepreneurship modules designed to transform students from job seekers into job creators through practical learning experiences.
Students will receive training in enterprise development and innovation before presenting business ideas during a competitive pitching session at the end of the programme.
Business leaders will assess the proposals and support viable ventures with the aim of developing commercially sustainable enterprises.
The GES will then evaluate the progress of the pilot before extending it to other senior high schools across the country.
Rationale
The Deputy Director-General for Management Services at GES, Professor Smile Dzisi, formally launched the programme and described entrepreneurship education as essential to preparing students for the future.
She said the GES conceived the initiative in response to rising youth unemployment and the need to develop entrepreneurial thinking among young people regardless of their academic discipline.
“The programme will move beyond classroom theory by exposing students to practical enterprise development, innovation, mentorship and business pitching.
"I firmly believe that embedding entrepreneurship in our educational system is essential for preparing a generation of self-reliant, creative and solution-oriented citizens," Prof. Dzisi said.
Prof. Gyasi also commended Procus Ghana Limited for investing in the initiative and called on other private sector organisations to partner GES to strengthen education through similar interventions.
Entrepreneurial mindset
The Coordinator for the NEP-SHS, Bertha Amanor, said GES designed the programme to address a national challenge, citing research that placed a high rate of unemployment among the youth.
“Many young Ghanaians aged between 15 and 24, at 23 per cent, are unemployed after school, with more than 750,000 young Ghanaians actively seeking employment,” she said.
The coordinator said the programme sought to change mindsets rather than direct every student into business ownership, further stating that the pilot would culminate in a business pitching competition among the three participating schools, where entrepreneurs would evaluate students' ideas for possible investment.
"As we formally launch this pilot, we do so with the conviction that the pilot schools and the students within will help write the next chapter of Ghana's entrepreneurial story," the coordinator said.
