Unlike Mahama, Akufo-Addo doesn't oppose good policies - Oppong Nkrumah

Information Minister Kojo Oppong Nkrumah has said unlike former President John Mahama, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo does not flip-flop on his commitment to education and youth empowerment.

The MP for Ofoase-Ayirebi in the Eastern Region said, unlike Mr Mahama who always opposes programmes that support young people, Nana Akufo-Addo’s commitment to the Ghanaian youth remains unchanged.

Mr Nkrumah said it was factual that the NPP tradition is a leader in introducing sustainable interventions and programmes that are aimed at supporting young people and education, specifically.

Addressing the 27th Annual Residential and Delegate’s Summit of the Ghana National Union of Technical Students in Kumasi, Mr Nkrumah said: “Very often, you will find that it is the NPP tradition that leads in interventions and programmes that are aimed at supporting young people and education specifically”.

The Kufuor administration under the NPP, he said, “introduced the capitation grants, school feeding programme and the extension of the senior high school programme from three to four years while introducing model schools for more intake”.

Mr Nkrumah noted that the trend has continued under the Akufo-Addo administration with the introduction of the Free SHS policy, which gives every Ghanaian child a right to get free secondary school education, whether they be from rich or poor homes.

Technical and Vocational Education & Training (TVET), he said, are considered by the Akufo-Addo government as a major pillar for development hence the need to expand technical and vocational opportunities at both the secondary and tertiary levels in a bid to strengthen the linkage between education and industry, as well as give opportunities to the young ones to deploy their skills, as well as employ themselves and others.

He said: “The government is also undertaking structural reforms by setting up a TVET Service and TVET Council, and dedicating a whole division of the education service to Technical and Vocational Education, which would have its own Director-General”.

“The Ministry of Education has also been restructured, dedicating one Deputy Minister entirely to technical and vocational education”, Mr Nkrumah added.

Also, the minister disclosed that the government’s One District-One Factory project is meant to launch Ghana as a major industrialisation hub but believes this game-changer will remain meaningless if it is not supported by institutions that are primed to churn out the relevant skilled human resources that will sustain and grow the industries.

"TVET, through the delivery of practical, middle-level skilled manpower, is, therefore, key; not only to addressing Ghana’s employment challenges but also its industrial agenda”, he said.