Gov’t committed to converting Polytechnics to Tech. Universities - Veep

Vice President Paa Kwesi Amissah-Arthur has assured that government will continue to be committed to converting Polytechnics to Technical Universities within the laid down objective framework in line with its (government's) commitment to providing quality education for the people.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur was speaking at 60th Anniversary celebration of the Cape Coast Technical Institute in the Central Region. The 60th Anniversary celebration, which was attended by prominent old students from various fields of endeavor, was on the theme: “Sound Technical / Vocational Education: A Tool for job creation and national development”.

He called on students of Cape Tech, to take advantage of opportunities offered there and acquire the skills necessary to meet the demands of the highly competitive job market. By doing they would have justified the huge investment made in them.

Vice president Kwesi Amissah –Arthur said the government had initiated a number of projects which, over a period of time, would help increase access and bring improvements in the educational system.

He commended the founding fathers of the school for their commitment to excellence which, he said, had immortalized their names in the annals of the school.

Vice President Amissah-Arthur said education remained the key to human progress and, therefore, advised the students to take their studies seriously in order to become better citizens in future, adding; “for tomorrow belong to those who prepare for it today”.

He congratulated the Board of Governors, principal, staff and students of the institution on the occasion of the 60th anniversary celebration of the institution.And also saluted the products Cape Tech who serves in the various sector of the economy.

Vice president Kwesi Amissah- Arthur said President John Mahama has stated, on many occasions, that to address our developmental needs and creates sustainable jobs for the youth, Government is focusing on the education that emphasize skills development.

It was for the reason Government’s has prioritized Technical and Vocational Education with the view to making Ghana an industrialized economy and empowering our youth through Technical education, vocational training and skills development are particularly important for increasing of competitiveness.

The Vice President said Government has, therefore, being implementing policies, programmes and activities targeted at improving the technical and vocational capacity of the nation. In line with this he further stated that Government has demonstrated leadership, commitment and a clear vision for development of Technical Vocational Education and Training [TVTE]. The keen attention and provision of resources to the sector has produced satisfying evidence-based results.

He said currently under the competence based training [CBT] programme, occupational Standards have been developed and validated for Welding & Fabrication and Mechanical Engineering under the oil Gas Capacity Building Project. And that so far 3,000 apprentices have already being matched with 800 Master Craft persons under the National Apprenticeship Programme [NAP] in the Database Creation Exercise. 8,000 more are going through the process.

He used the occasion to give statistics on what has being achieved such as the grants approved to 646 businesses across the country. With almost 44,000 artisans have being supported by the SDF and over 93,446 employees / members of Trade Associations and Farmer Based Groups trained across all sectors of the economy of Ghana.

Mr. kwesi Amissah- Arthur said government has so far awarded scholarships to over 1,520 students in Institute and Technical Institutes to pursue science-related courses. Among the beneficiaries are 333 females .Government has awarded scholarships to 2,000 apprentices in the informal sector, out of which 726 are females.

Over 8,000 Master Craftsperson have been trained in Competency Based Training [CBT] methods of instruction.

Government also sponsored the training of 148 instructions at the Diploma level, 20 instructions at the Master level and 5 faculty members at the PhD level. Adding that over 5,000 junior school leavers have so far received training in garment making, cosmetology, welding and fabrication, auto mechanics and electronics in 70 selected districts.

He used the opportunity to commend the National Council for Tertiary Education for dispatching the Expert Panel to re-assess Cape Coast and Tamale Polytechnics based on their requests for reassessment.