Jewelry School to solve unemployment

A new jewelry school that has the potential of significantly reducing the unemployment rate in the country will soon be opened at Tepa.

The Tepa Institute of Jewelry Technology and Innovation Ltd (TIJTI), the first of its kind in the country currently, would help train people in the modern ways of producing jewelry to meet international standards.

It would also enable Ghana to earn more foreign exchange through the sale of jewelry, which would go a long way to transform Ghana’s economy.

The school, aside other several benefits, would also help position the jewelry sector properly so as to boost the country’s economy.

Currently, work is ongoing on a 40-acre land, provided by the Tepahene to construct a modern TIJTI campus at Tepa where the students would be trained.

Joseph Arthur, President and CEO (TIJTI), said admission of about 500 students is currently ongoing, adding that they would undergo six-month course which is mainly practical.

Mr. Arthur said the school would train about 3,000 people in the next two years to boost Ghana’s jewelry sector.

He stated that his school would help assist graduates to set up their own businesses after school to help resolve the unemployment situation in Ghana.

According to him, Senior High School (SHS) graduates and other people who can read and write can gain admission at the institution.

Mr. Arthur said Ghana’s jewelry sector was not being proper utilized presently.

He said that the school was seeking the expertise of key people in the jewelry sector in the US.

He announced that two-world acclaimed jewelry manufacturing experts had been invited by school.

One them is Bruce Tarbox of Rio Grande in the US, which is one of the world’s largest jewelry tools supplier that also manufacture jewelry.

The other jewelry expert currently in the country is Russel Hyder of the Jewelry CAD Institute, Las Vegas, Nevada US, who is a luminary in jewelry production.

Bruce and Russel, who would stay in the country for one week, would offer professional advice regarding the construction TIJTI campus at Tepa.

The two men, who are well-known across the globe in the jewelry production, would visit Ghana periodically to help teach students of the school.

Russel Hyder said students that would be lucky to be admitted at the institution would be trained on how to use computer to design jewelry of high standards.

Mr Tarbox, on his part, expressed concern about the current policy in which Ghana exports raw gold to abroad.

He stressed the need for Ghana to add value to its gold before exporting them abroad for huge sums of money to develop the country.

Tarbox admonished Ghanaians to learn from countries such as India, China, Thailand, Vietnam and Brazil, who refine their gold before exporting them.

He said the aforementioned countries are making colossal amount of money to develop and improve the lives of their people.