High Court Judge: Government must support skills training institutes

High Court Judge Justice Avril Anin-Yeboah has appealed to the government to give technical and vocational training institutions tax holidays in support of their skills and training activities.

She said the support will enable more of such training institutions offer diversified programmes and at a more affordable cost in training the youth to acquire life-long vocations and make a meaningful living for themselves and their dependants.

Justice Anin-Yeboah was speaking at the 23rd graduation ceremony of the EKGS Culinary Institute in Accra at which 130 students were awarded certificates in cake-making and decorating; balloon, ribbon & floral décor art; cookery and pastry arts.

She said vocational training not only equip the youth with avenues to earn decent incomes, it also engages them in useful ventures and steers them away from waywardness.

“The problem of indiscipline among the youth is mainly one of lack of employment. Keep a young man busy with a fruitful venture and he is unlikely to go round breaking down doors or burning up cars. EKGS Culinary Institute is doing its best for the citizens of this country especially for the above mentioned groups by providing an avenue through which such vocations can be learnt.”

She said over 12 years, the institute has provided scores of women and “a few smart and discerning men (who no longer consider vocational skills the preserve of women) with a reliable means of earning an income.

Mrs. Efua Goode-Arthur, Director of EKGS Culinary Institute, announced the acquisition of a franchise to offer programmes under the internationally acknowledged Wilton Method of Cake Decorating.

She said the acquisition underscores EKGS resolve to offer quality training for its students, explaining that courses are available for beginners and professionals.

She said the graduation ceremony, under the theme, Meeting International Standards – Ghana's Culinary Industry in Perspective, was also to underscore the fact that the world has indeed become a global village where products must be internationalized.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, since we live in a global village, it is very necessary that the skills we inculcate in our students are given an international flavour to enable the beneficiaries to fit everywhere and be able to satisfy cosmopolitan tastes and markets. Therein lies the importance of the Wilton certification that we have introduced at EKGS. Needless to say, it is the first in the country and it is our hope that many prospective students will take advantage of it to improve themselves.

“Madam Chairperson, while we at EKGS are doing everything within our power to expose our students to international trends in the culinary industry, I implore the government, through the stakeholders in the industry, to provide the necessary and conducive environment for institutes like ours to gain exposure. This they can do by way of extending credit on soft terms to us, facilitating international exchange programmes between us and well-established institutions abroad and sub-contracting some of the juicy contracts in the culinary sector to us. I need not say that these interventions will in no small way enhance our ability to train more youth with employable skills.”



Government support

The graduating students in a group photograph with Mrs Efua Goode-Arthur, Director of EKGS Culinary Institute.

Mrs. Goode-Arthur also announced the institution of a scholarship for two needy students to pursue courses at the institute each session. This she explained, comes to add to the institute's other facilities such as flexible fee payment terms and sale of equipment and materials on credit, among others.

Deputy Minister for Tourism, Kobby Acheampong, in a speech read on his behalf, urged EKGS and other training institutions in the culinary industry to find ways of making their cakes and other sugar craft dishes Ghanaian to make them a potential attraction in Ghanaian tourism, explaining that nothing better identifies a society than they food they eat.

“For instance cocoa and cocoa-based products could be used in innovative ways while the decoration could also be given a distinctive Ghanaian touch.”

He pledged the continued support of the government for and its preparedness to collaborate with the industry to adopt pragmatic measures and appropriate courses to support the development of the tourism industry.

Story by Isaac Yeboah