COTVET Launched Skills Gap Report

The Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (COTVET), under the Ministry of Education and the Ford Foundation, has inaugurated a Skills Gap Analysis and Audit Report.

It forms part of the measures to ensure the skills needs of industries are adequately diagnosed for the appropriate prescription.

The audit report documents fall in the selected Ghanaian economy including Agriculture, Strategic Manufacturing, Construction, Tourism and Hospitality, Electronics, Automation and Electrical, Energy, Oil and Gas, and Information Communication Technology.

The report is aimed at helping to identify the existing gaps between industry required skills and the current training provided by TVET in Ghana and also determining the programme to be developed relevant to the world of work that would help bridge the skills gap between TVET providers and the industry.

The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of TVET, Gifty Twum-Ampofo, who launched the documents in Accra on Wednesday, said the Akufo-Addo administration had approved a five-year strategic plan for TVET transmission which the report said is “a crucial element of that strategic plan”.

According to her, the World Bank calculations indicated that more than two billion working-age adults are not equipped with the most essential skills required by employers, adding that among the young adults under the age of 25, the number is about 420 million worldwide, and Ghana's situation is no different.

She explained that stakeholders' consultations held on the state of TVET delivery in Ghana by the Ministry of Education that the materials for and methods of teaching at the various TVET institutions were archaic and ineffective, among other challenges.

Ms. Twum-Ampofo noted that the report has a profile of occupations and skills set directory of the seven mentioned sectors, thus a comprehensive work which would guide policy formulation and curriculum development on TVET, going forward.

She noted that the private sector partnerships and workplace training had always been important in helping create programmes that match the needs of the labour market and teach critical skills.

She said the government had begun the process to upgrade the TVET infrastructure in Ghana which includes the upgrading and retooling of all the 34 NVTIs, the NVTI head office, 10 regional offices and five apprenticeship offices.

Besides, she said government would construct new TVET centres across the newly created six regions.

The deputy minister noted that in line with the President's commitment to make Ghana a centre of excellence for TVET in West Africa, they have initiated the construction of 32 centres of excellence in the 16 regions, which means every region would get two of the centres where the first phase of nine centres would start this year.

---Daily Guide