The TVET Teachers Association of Ghana is proposing a new regime for technical and vocational education in the country right from the secondary to the tertiary levels.
According to the Association’s Acting General-Secretary, Kofi Kumi, the Higher National Diploma awarded in our technical schools is an albatross around Ghana’s neck when it comes to providing quality technical and vocational education.
He believes it would be more prudent for the state to implement a manpower and skill development system in which students would study practicals intensively to be prepared for the job market.
He claimed that the HND, which is equivalent to a BTech, is not solving the country’s unemployment problem, and that the best way forward is for our students to have middleman power training.
He lamented that the job market is not prepared for half-baked professionals, thus the need for a one-year or a two-year diploma or certificate program for our graduates from SHS or technical schools.
“There should be a stop-gap,” he said. Something akin to a diploma or certificate program that we could refer to as post-technical and vocation because that is what the industry and job market requirements. This will help to promote and create job owners and entrepreneurs.
He contended that skill development and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) are important national policies that several countries are initiating and improving and that Ghana could do the same.
I also believe that technical and vocational education is more effective in increasing employment and income for the underprivileged.
He also asserted that, if properly implemented and the necessary skills are acquired, TVET will facilitate economic growth and serve as a poverty alleviation mechanism in Ghana.
He stated that technically trained and educated people can apply technical knowledge in practice which is required for a successful and progressive society.
He maintained that when it comes to targeting the job market, an HND is an albatross because it is unclear what your fate is after graduating from technical university with an HND. You’re not sure whether you should compare yourself to a degree student.
Education and training for productive work are critical for economic and social development. TVET is a tool for increasing productivity and reducing poverty, so we must embark on this new approach to training skilled labour for the job market,” he said as he accepted his new role as Acting General Secretary.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
