Samsung graduates 1st batch of female electronic professionals

Over one hundred young female vocational and technical students have graduated from a 1.08 million Euro programme designed to boost the number of girls and young women in the male-dominated electronics sector.

Dubbed: “Female Professionals in Electronics,” the initiative, which was inaugurated in 2016, is a partnership between electronic manufacturing giant, Samsung West Africa, German Cooperation, Korean International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the government of Ghana.

The 117 young women graduates were from four beneficiary schools namely Don Bosco Vocational Institute, Ashaiman, Pentecost Vocational Training Centre, Gbawe, Accra Girls Vocational Institute and CYO Technical-Vocational Institute in Sovie, Volta Region.

Speaking at the project’s open day ceremony held in Accra last Monday, Ghana’s First Lady, Mrs. Rebecca Akufo-Addo, commended the partners for collectively putting their weight together to raise the number of young women in the electronics profession through vocational and technical training.

According to her, government was committed to solving the challenge of unemployment and increasing avenues for female employment and economic wellbeing.

“I am therefore glad to note that the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is vigorously pursuing strategies to provide industry demand driven skills to our youth. This will make them participate meaningfully in the labour market; making them locally productive and globally competitive,” Mrs. Akufo-Addo said.

The First Lady further encouraged beneficiaries to make the best out of the project aimed at training females in installation and servicing of electronic equipment since it will provide economic livelihood for them.

Earlier, Managing Director of Samsung Electronics West Africa, Jingak Chung, said: “this partnership is a major leap and a progressive step in equipping women with skills beyond primary industries to finding quality jobs through vocational training which can create more income and added value to the electronics sector.”

“The project will support Ghanaian women to find quality jobs through vocational training which can create more income and value added,” Mr. Chung added.

Technical and Vocational Education and training (TVET) has been identified as the means to providing the needed skills to empower the youth to spur social and economic growth in Ghana by creating self-employment after school and contributing to the economic growth of the country, and the project is helping to address what many described as “skills mismatch” in the country.

The project tackles four major intervention fields – Learning Environment, Capacity Building, Infrastructure and Knowledge Management