Dr Daniel Baffour-Awuah, Executive Director of Workforce Development International, has called for more investment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), and Science Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics to eradicate unemployment in the country.
He said TVET offered direct skills and knowledge to help one to become self-employed and create employment for others.
He said persons who went through skills training only required start-up capital, but those who passed through the main academic system had to wait to be employed by institutions and organisations.
He said this at the 22nd graduation and induction ceremony of Chartered Institute of Administrators Consultants Ghana (CIAMC) in Accra. It was on the theme: ‘Reshaping Education Aligning Assessment With Curriculum And Delivery, And The Role Of Professionals in Reshaping The Process Of Education.’
He indicated, impacting STEM on students’ learning could be achieved when teachers were well-resourced, digitally literate and understoo
d how to integrate ICT into their curriculum.
Dr Awuah appealed to stakeholders, private individuals and non-governmental institutions to complement government’s efforts in ICT development in educational institutions.
He said entrepreneurial skills was very essential, hence, students’ must be thought how to write entrepreneurial proposals to enhance their skills and knowledge.
He appealed for sustainable funding to be used by institutions and individuals with capable skills in technical and vocational occupations.
‘We need to put premium on TVET because its returns are more beneficial and high’, he added.
However, he said all these can be achieved when TVET and STEM were prioritised by both government and the private sector.
Additionally, administrators and industry players must coordinate to engage and organise workshops and training for students’.
He said people should desist from having the perception that TVET was for the poor and dumb in society.
Ehunabobrim Prah Agyensaim VI, Chief Executive Off
icer (CEO), Industrial and Engineering Services Limited, encouraged professional administrators to be prepared and humble themselves to learn extra more to acquire knowledge in other fields.
He advised the youth to be resilient and save towards the growth of their businesses to help make significant gains and expand them.
He called for collaboration of all stakeholders to make TVET achieve its desired impact.
The CEO said government alone could not provide jobs for the large numbers of unemployed youth, hence self-employment was the reliable answer to the challenge.
‘Many young people are deprived, disadvantaged and marginalised and could not afford the basic business necessities and, thus, start-up capital to begin a simple enterprise was very important to them,’ he said.
TVET was the bedrock of the country’s economic development, adding, ‘It is relevant today as it was yesterday and it would be in the future’.
The graduates were encouraged to be agents of practicing TVET and STEM in their fields of or
ganisation, and were tasked to bridge the gap between administrators and industry.
Source: Ghana News Agency