Govt urged to equip, increase number of technical schools

Accra, Sept. 5, GNA - Mr John Sylvester Boafo, Principal of Takoradi Technical Institute, on Monday appealed to government to expedite action on its decision to equip technical schools with the needed tools to be abreast with modern trends of development. In an interview with the GNA, Mr Boafo, who is also the President of Association of Technical Institutions, said the 23 technical schools in the country were not enough.

They also lacked the necessary equipment needed to train students expected to transform the country's industries and increase output. He said available equipment was very obsolete, adding that training students to use the computer was also very important for them. Mr Boafo said because technical institutes aimed at training students on modern information technology it collaborated with US-based Global Technology Academy (GTA) to organise a training of trainers workshop last month for staff of technical institutes on the use of the computer.

He said the 14 participants were also taught how to develop curriculum on computer refurbishment, training, and networking. He said Takoradi Technical Institute, Kumasi Technical Institute and Accra Technical Training Centre were working with GTA, which had agreed to provide them with computers for the training programmes. Mr. Boafo said there were 1,600 students at the Takoradi Technical Institute, adding that more students could be enrolled if the technical schools were well furnished and regarded by the public as the primary source of recruitment into the industries.

He lauded government's decision to increase the number of technical schools.