Skills Dev’t Training for Drivers in B/A launched

The Ghana Private Road Transport Union (GPRTU) and Skills Development Fund (SDF) of Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) has launched a skills development training for 3,077 drivers in the Brong-Ahafo Region.

The programme, a joint initiative of the Government and the national secretariat of GPRTU in collaboration with SDF is being funded with a grant from the Government of Ghana, World Bank and Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) to re-train the drivers on road safety and customer service.

Speaking at the launch, on Monday, at Abesim in the Sunyani Municipality, Mr. Godfred Akyea-Darkwah, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Road Safety and Transportation Consultancies (RSTC) Limited, announced that the training was part of a nationwide exercise aimed at training 40,000 drivers of GPRTU across the country.

Mr. Akyea-Darkwah complained that 90 per cent of road accidents resulted from human error, explaining that the alarming rate of the road accidents had necessitated government’s intervention to access the funds to re-train the drivers to minimise if not eradicate the road accidents.

He said at present the GPRTU had a driver population of 200,000 but the training agreement catered for 40,000, explaining that under the project, the country had been divided into two groups, comprising the Ashanti, Eastern, Greater Accra, Central and Brong-Ahafo Regions while Volta, Western, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions formed the other group.

Mr. Akyea-Darkwah said the trainees would be issued with a certificate at the end of the training and, therefore, urged the selected participants to take the programme seriously to enhance their driving skills.

He said to ensure the literacy of commercial drivers, the Management of the Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) would soon implement a law that would mandate that only applicants with Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) Certificate would be issued with a driver’s License.

Mr. Akyea-Darkwah said the decision for acquisition of BECE Certificate would enable drivers to progress and eventually benefit from the proposed University Degree in Driving Management at the University of Cape Coast and the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

Mr. Justice Samuel Adjei, the Brong-Ahafo Deputy Regional Minister, expressed the hope that the participants would take keen interest in the training for the social and economic benefit of the Region and the country at large.

Mr. Ben Kusi, the Regional Chair of GPRTU, commended the Government and the other funding partners for the initiative but, pleaded with the government agencies responsible for the maintenance of road networks in the Region to ensure that road signs were placed at vantage points to educate drivers.

Mr. Richard Yaw Amankwaa, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Industrial Relations Officer of GPRTU, mentioned Duayaw-Nkwanta, Berekum, Dormaa-Ahenkro, Techiman, Atebubu, Goaso and Drobo as the other centres where training would take place in the Region.