Educationists Dialogue To Promote Women Leadership In TVET

Participants at a workshop for developing leadership skills for sustainable development for women in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions have resolved to take immediate steps to mainstream gender in their programmes.

They will also give equal opportunities to all by enrolling and retaining girls in Senior High Schools, Vocational and Technical schools.

The participants resolved to eschew gender biases and gender stereotypes in programmes of study where boys are represented as medical doctors and girls as seamstresses and change the negative stigma against women.

The workshop was organised by the Koforidua Technical University (KTU) and supported by the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), a funding institution. .

The aim of the five-day workshop was to build leadership capacity among a cadre of senior women managers from public funded TVET institutions in Ghana.

In analysing the huge gender disparity gap in TVET leadership in Ghana, Dr Patricia Owusu Darko, a resource person at the workshop indicated that on the average, women occupy only 12.5 per cent of leadership positions in TVET institutions.

She reminded the participants that, 'we are not here because we want people to pity us or lower the standards. We are here because we want the world to know that we are capable'.

Ms Barbara Asher Ayisi, Deputy Minister of Education in-charge of TVET said her Ministry was revamping technical and vocational education.

The Vice-Chancellor of Koforidua Technical University who is also the Western Region Gender Representative for the Commonwealth Association of Technical Universities and Polytechnics of Africa (CAPA), said the Ghana Education Sector Performance Report issued in 2015 indicated that gender parity in TVET was weakening as it had fallen from 50.1 per cent in 2009/2010 academic year to 29.1 per cent in 2015, which was significant.

Prof. Smile Dzisi pleaded with participants to stick to their identified leadership characteristics and the personal development plan they prepared for themselves during the workshop.

She reiterated that the various TVET institutions should follow up on the identified strategies to mainstream gender in their institutions, implement the various developed action plans on promoting women leadership in their TVET institutions and improve their leadership and management skills to become drivers of change.