Let’s do away with TVET misconceptions – Minister
Government is committed to re-positioning Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) to significantly erase the erroneous misconception that technical education was inferior and should be the preserve of the academically weak.
Professor Kwesi Yankah, the Minister of State in-Charge of Tertiary Education who said this, bemoaned the negative mindset of the public about technical education.
He, therefore, appealed to parents and guardians to eschew that perception and allow their children particularly females who desired to pursue technical and vocational education to do so freely.
Prof. Yankah was speaking at the launch of a Partnership for Applied Sciences Project (PASS) by the Cape Coast Technical University (CCTU) and the Kumasi Technical University (KTU) in Cape Coast on Monday.
The four-year partnership agreement is aimed at building the capacity of staff of the two institutions to carry out projects in their individual niche areas.
Prof Yankah said Government was undertaking massive structural reforms including the setting up a TVET Service and Council dedicated under Ministry of Education with its own Director General.
The Minister further explained that the Government had restructured the Ministry of Education, dedicating one Deputy Minister to be entirely in charge of technical and vocational education.
All these, he said were geared towards re-kindling the interest of vocational and technical education in the country.
He hinted that the Ministry was galvanizing resources to commence construction of 20 modern TVET institutions and to upgrade the 35 existing National Vocational Training Institutes and the colleges of education that specialised in technology.
Besides that, he indicated that the Ministry had also signed a number of Memorandum of Understandings (MOUs) with some Chinese Universities to build campuses of their universities in Ghana to enhance vocational and skills development.
The MOU also included those with world class equipment factories ready for partnerships in building laboratories, lab equipment, scholarly exchanges and research collaborations.
Dr Mrs Heike Heldmann-Okinda, DAAD(a German Academic Exchange Service,) Country Director, lauded the Government of Ghana for choosing Germany’s model of TVET.
She assured Ghana of a continued support to create employment for the masses through technical and vocational education.
Source: GNA