Skilled Manpower needed to move Ghana Forward

Kumasi, July 13, GNA - Mr. Sampson Kwaku Boafo, Ashanti Regional Minister, has said the government's declaration of Golden Age of Business will be meaningless without the effective involvement of technically skilled manpower.

He called for the intensification of technical and vocational education to equip the youth with skills for accelerated socio-economic development.

Mr. Boafo said these in an address read on his behalf at the graduation of the Ramseyer Presbyterian Technical and Vocational Institute, in Kumasi on Saturday.

It was under the theme "The Role of Technical and Vocational Education in the Golden Age of Business in Ghana". A total of 95 students who had completed three-year courses in Fashion, Catering, Furniture and Construction among others, graduated and were awarded certificates.

The Regional Minister indicated that Japan, Germany and South Korea, which some time past were impoverished, managed to lift themselves from poverty due to the technical and vocational oriented education they pursued.

He said it was in recognition of the important role of technical education in development that the current educational system was being re-formed, to address the socio-economic challenges of the time. Mr. Emmanuel Appiah, Principal of the Institute, noted that apart from training the youth to acquire practical skills for self-employment, the institute also offered the opportunity for people to further their education.

It also encouraged them to write the NVTI Trade test examinations, to enable them enter Polytechnics for advance courses.