Minister for Employment and Labor week visit in New York

Nii Armah Ashitey, the Minister of Employment and Labor Relations for Ghana ended his week visit of upstate New York at Rochester City Hall Hall with Mayor Lovely Warren (First African American Female Mayor of Rochester New York.

Nii Armah Ashitey, the Minister of Employment and Labor Relations for Ghana, spending a week in Upstate NEW York and interact with local education and business officials. He toured Monroe Community College Applied Tech center which hosted the vice President of the united states a couple of weeks before Nii Armah Ashiteys visit. On April 8, Ashitey spent time at the Monroe 2-Orleans BOCES Center for Workforce Development and Career and Technical Education Center as well as Rochester Works.

Ashitey toured the facilities, walked through classrooms and met with District Superintendent Jo Anne Antonacci, Assistant Superintendent for Instruction Joe Kelly, Director for Center for Workforce Development Mary Ellen Spennacchio-Wagner and Executive Principal for Career and Technical Education Jill Slavny.

During his discussion with Spennacchio-Wagner, Ashitey said, “I once heard someone say 'If Education is the key to development, then vocational training is the master key to open all doors.' It is very true; it opens the doors to many opportunities.”

Also Nii Armah Ashitey meet with Interim College President Carol Long at the State University Of New York Geneseo, the college has educational partnerships with KNUST where the minister is an alumni off. Nii Armah Ashietey emphasized on the importance of educational partnership and collaborations between Ghana and the upstate New York in the Agricultural sector to reduce the practices of child labor and also to introduce new farming methods e.g. precision Agriculture. They also shared ideas on the creation of an Agricultural/ Entrepreneurial school of excellence in Ghana and Geneseo and also the creation of Suny educational centre in Ghana.

Ashitey's visit was coordinated through Abraham Steiner an educational consultant and CEO of E.A.G.L.E.S (Educators affecting Growth and Lives of Every Student) an NGO in Ghana and the City of Rochester International Programs Liaison Michael Leach. Ashietey returns to Ghana next week to share his findings.