Government Outlines Strategic Plan For Technical, Vocational Education

The Ministry of Education (MoE) would soon launch Government’s strategic plan for Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Professor Kwesi Yankah, the Minister of State in-charge of Tertiary Education, has said.

He said plans are far advanced to hold a national conference on technical and vocational education scheduled for March 14th to 16th at Koforidua adding that participants from six other countries -- China, Nigeria, Finland, Germany, South Africa and the United Kingdom -- would attend the event.

Prof Yankah, who was speaking at the 10th congregation ceremony of the Sunyani Technical University (STU) on Saturday, said the launch and the conference are to foster government’s agenda on TVET and sharpen the national focus on it.

A total of 1,605 graduates who successfully completed their programmes of study for the 2016/2017 academic year were awarded certificates in various professional disciplines such as Building Technology, Civil Engineering, Hospitality and Tourism Management, Computerised Accounting and Procurement Management.

The others were Higher National Diploma in Engineering, Applied Science and Technology as well as Business and Management Studies disciplines.

Prof Yankah said the conference, with the theme: “Reinventing Technical and Vocational Education in Ghana: From Vision to Action” should enable stakeholders to put the state of technical education in the country in a broad perspective.

He said they should be able to appreciate and adopt best practices in the country and beyond, towards translating the government’s vision into action.

He said in redefining the value of technical and vocational education as indispensable and very essential for national socio-economic development, the government was positioning itself to mainstream it by first launching a major project towards that cause.

The project among others, Prof Yankah said, is to “redeem the misconception that technical and vocational education is inferior and patronised only by unintelligent students”.

Prof Yankah said government through the Education Ministry was undertaking structural reforms by setting up a TVET Service and TVET Council, as well as dedicating a whole division of the education service to technical and vocational education which would have its own Director-General.

He said government, besides curriculum revision of TVET institutions, has also restructured the MoE with the dedication of a Deputy Minister entirely to the technical and vocational education sector.

Prof Yankah urged the graduates to look into the future with hope and determination by being empowered on the basis of the knowledge acquired to make a difference in their own lives and that of the nation.

He said Ghana offers a wide range of opportunities for them to develop themselves and urged them to be innovative and entrepreneurial in generating ideas to develop their communities and the entire country.

Story by Ghana | Myjoyonline.com