COTVET builds capacity of carpenters

The Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) has launched a comprehensive training programme in Kumasi to upgrade the skills and build the capacity of carpenters to add value to their products.

The last in the series of the three-phased programme, which ended at the Forestry Commission Training Centre (FCTC) at Akyawkrom in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality at the weekend, targeted more than 600 carpenters to help them to meet international quality standards.

Mr. Joseph Boakye, the Director of the Forestry Commission Training Centre (FCTC), which is facilitating the training, told the Ghana News Agency (GNA), that more than 50 carpenters had already benefited from the training, and expressed confidence that they would apply what they were taught in their work.

Mr. Boakye said they were being exposed to quality finishing techniques, surface preparation, drying, spraying, safety, glazing, preservative treatments and simplified style changes.

The industry, he noted, held immense prospects for the nation, citing the ever increasing demand for wood products.

He said the way forward was for the Government to invest in training programmes for woodworkers to boost attraction of their products on the international market and substantially cut down waste.

He said: "No effort should be spared to aid wood workers to take advantage of technological advancement to enable them to cut reasonable slice of the international wood products trade for themselves to help expand their businesses."

Mr. Boakye urged the carpenters to be serious with the training programme because it was in their own best interest.