Kumasi — A total of 44,000 students have been enrolled into the Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools in the country.
It is the first time that such a number has been recorded, as compared with the previous years of 18,000 and 24,000 student enrollment in the country.
Director-General of the Ghana TVET Service, Mawusi Nudekor Awity, disclosed this in an interview during a meeting of the Ministry of Education and heads of Category 'A' schools across the country.
The meeting which saw the presence of the Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, his deputy, Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, among others, discussed enrollment rates, challenges of the schools and government's efforts in tackling the challenges.
According to MrsAwity, "this year has been very wonderful, as it is the first time we have the highest enrolment rate, this means that people now understand the importance of TVET".
She pointed out that the government still heldin high esteem the TVET concept that "it is the main contributor to national development, if unemployment should be reduced".
She was delighted the government was poised to ensure TVET lived to expectation by way of resourcing and modernising the few TVET schools in the system and ensuring expansion of such institutions.
Realising that TVET institutions were not enough she urged the Ghana Education Service to form some to ensure the youth in the country were equipped with employable skills to solve the nation's unemployment.
Over the years, the TVET sector has faced many challenges, but as a vital engine to the country'sindustrialisation agenda, the Ministry is committed to ensuring that citizens have the practical skills necessary for success.
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Over the years, the TVET sector has suffered an image crisis over a public perception of being the refuge of students who are not academically endowed. Together with obsolete machinery, a fragmented TVET landscape, an outdated curriculum, a lack of standardisation, duplication of roles amongst agencies and poor investment, this sector has lagged according to information sourced at moe.gov.gh
The government believes that TVET is key to the country's industrialisation agenda as it provides the manpower for practical skills necessary for its industrial drive, as exemplified by theOne District, One Factory initiative.
By ensuring effective regulation, coordination, standardisation and quality of instruction in TVET, the Cabinet has agreed to realign all Technical and Vocational Institutions (TVI) under the Ministry of Education, has approved a five-year strategic plan for TVET transformation.
The Ghana TVET Voucher Project (GTVP) is supported by Ghanaian-German financial cooperation and is co-financed by BMZ.
The programme is implemented by COTVET, supported by the Ghana Skills Development Initiative, and is the first voucher programme in the TVET sector with €10 million in funding.
