Buoho Vocational Training Centre Management Committee inaugurated

An eight member Management Committee for Buoho Vocational Training Centre of the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI), was on Friday inaugurated at Hemang-Buoho in the Afigya-Kwabre District.

The Committee, which would serve as an advisory body for the Centre, comprised the Manager of the facility, the District Coordinating Director, Assembly Member for the area, representatives from the NVTI, the District Education Office, the Parent Teacher Association (PTA), Unit Committee and the Old Students Association of the Centre.

Inaugurating the group, Mr.S.B.Amponsah, Director of the NVTI, in an address read on his behalf, noted unemployment among the youth was high partly because they had not been directed to acquire the right skills that would empower them adequately to cater for themselves.

He said the launch of the Committee could not have come at an opportune time than now, especially when the government has dedicated itself to ensuring that as many youth were given the hope into the future by equipping them with skills.

Mr. Amponsah said the NVTI, under which the Centre operated expected policies as well as strategies to be formulated to ensure that the Centre was put in a better stead to admit more trainees, expand facilities and improve the quality of training.

He asked the Committee members not to engage in the day-to-day running of the Centre and said ” Its role must be narrowed to policy formulation and it should be purely advisory”.

Mr. John Evans Ackon, Manager of the Centre, said that the Centre began as an outstation facility for the Kumasi NVTI at Suame, introducing masonry, General Electrical and carpentry and joinery fir the youth.

He said since 2003, the Centre has turned out many trainees in both General Electrical and Building and Construction of which some were self-employed and others working in various areas including the security services.

Mr. Ackon said the Centre was confronted with challenges including inadequate staffing, transport, accommodation for tutors and students as well as classrooms and called on government for assistance.

He urged the District Assembly and other stakeholders to offer scholarships to brilliant but needy children to enable them to acquire employable skills.

Mr. Ackon urged the assembly to award contracts to the Centre to enable trainees to improve on their skills and raise funds to support the facility.

Mr.Kwaku Osei-Poku, Afigya-Kwabre District Coordinating Director, advised the trainees to take their studies serious, reminding them that technical education needed precision, accurate measurements, understanding and analysis.

He told the trainees that they had chosen the right discipline for their future and they should work hard towards their vision.

Mrs. Florence Adufutse, Centre Manageress , NVTI Business Centre in Kumasi, called on the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GET fund) to provide a bus to the centre.