TVET Calls On Private Entities To Support Govt In Funding Projects
Director-General of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah, has called on private entities and industries to assist the government in funding TVET projects in the country.
Dr. Kyei Asamoah made the passionate appeal at the 2022 National TVET EXPO and Awards and the inauguration of the National Apprenticeship Policy and Skills Gap Analysis in Accra.
According to him, the government cannot bear all the costs associated with the TVET sector. Hence, there is a need for beneficiaries of TVET and private companies to assist the government.
The EXPO provided a common platform for the government and private entities to collaborate to promote TVET in Ghana and see how best the TVET sector can be factored into national deliberations.
Again, the objective of the TVET EXPO was “to promote awareness and interest among various stakeholders about the importance of TVET in Ghana, bring visibility to the key projects being undertaken by the Ministry of Education and the Commission for TVET in the TVET space as well as provide a platform for dialogue among key stakeholders on how to enhance TVET delivery in Ghana”.
Dr Asamoah also indicated that “investments in TVET in the past had been extremely low because the government had not paid much attention to the sector, saying there was no particular focus on TVET even though the country needed more people in the TVET sector to support the growth of the economy”.
Moreover, he explained that the current investments by the government in the TVET sector are to tackle issues like purchasing new equipment, preparing obsolete machines and providing training institutions for students acquiring knowledge under TVET.
“In our quest to bridge the gap, we have to do more than the normal…we are hoping that the investments in the sector will even double so that they can catch up with their counterpart in the grammar schools,” he noted.
Speaking on the mismatch between the training institutions and the industry, he said the government had conducted a skill gap analysis and audit for the priority sector.
This means the probability of TVET beneficiaries acquiring jobs in the private sector after completing their courses is high.
He added that “the survey was more critical in a time of accelerated technological development when industries globally kept transforming, and TVET was at the centre of providing the skills needed for industries, employability, and enhancement of livelihoods”.