New Policy for Vocational Education

A new policy on Technical and Vocational Education (TVET) for Ghana has been introduced to the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education (PSCE).

The policy was prepared with the support of the World Bank by an Advocacy Group of Churches, including the Anglican Church, E. P. Church, Ghana, Methodist Church, Presbyterian Church of Ghana, Roman Catholic Church and the Christian Council of Ghana.

Presenting the paper on behalf of the Group, Ms Comfort Ntiamoah Mensah, Director, Presbyterian Programme for Female Vocational Training, lamented that lack of a comprehensive national policy for TVET had resulted in the sector being organised in isolation.

She expressed weak and ineffective legal mandate for Technical and Vocational Education which has brought serious mismatch between supply and demand of skills as a result of weak linkages.

Ms. Ntiamoah Mensah noted that multiplicity of testing and certification standards within the system had sent confusing signals to both students and industry employers.

"There is insufficient funding in the sector as well as acute shortage of high level personnel needed to conceptualise and manage the TVET system," she said.

The director posited that Ghana was losing a lot of skilled workers whose services had been despised.

Ms. Ntiamoah Mensah said if the policy is accepted it would no doubt create sustainable jobs for the unemployed, streamline standards and certification in the Technical and Vocational Sectors.

She was of the opinion that the policy would provide a high quality skilled force that would make Ghanaian industries, products and services more competitive in the global and local markets.

"It will increase income earning capacities, especially of vulnerable groups, through skill training life-long learning and integration into modern economy, as well as contribute potentially to the political stability of the country by reducing pressure on the state for non-existent jobs."

The Advocacy group regretted a deep-seated territorial conflicts among ministries about who to be responsible for the overall direction of the TVET.

In his contribution Hon. Alhaji M.A Seidu, Chairman for the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education described the paper as forward looking adding that it would have sympathetic support of parliamentarians.

He regretted that vocational and Technical Education had not been given the necessary boost in the country and that the time had come for stakeholders on education to sit up.

He was unhappy that Professor Noah Dzobo's Educational Reform Programme had been abandoned and called for its implementation.

Mr. John Budu-Smith, the Acting Director General, Ghana Education Service, called for realistic framework for Vocational Training Education and suggested that TVET should come under one umbrella for effectiveness and recognition.

The function was chaired by Rt. Rev. Dr. Sam Prempeh, Moderator of the General Assembly of Presbyterian Church of Ghana.