Vice Chairman of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Education Dr. Prince Hamid Armah has observed that technical and vocational training institutions should be positioned such that they enjoy the same parity of esteem with the grammar type of education to make it more attractive.
He laments that the current arrangement where TVET institutions, for example, are located in schools that are not “supposedly classified as privileged schools creates a certain impression in the minds of prospective students that TVET is not a priority”.
“When TVET are located in schools that are not supposedly privileged schools, the challenge is that the students don’t want attend those schools because these schools are normally not known…it is also because TVET are located outside the grammar type of education. They are normally stand alone schools.”
Dr. Prince Hamid Armah was speaking to Connect FM, about efforts to make TVET more attractive, on the sidelines of a tour of technical and vocational training institutions in the Western Region by his committee.
He wants lessons to be drawn from countries that have given equal priority to TVET, stressing that “the results are the mass industrialization that has seen countries revolutionized their economies”.
Efforts
Dr. Prince Armah, who is also the Member of Parliament for Kwesimintsim, mentioned that as part of ongoing efforts to make TVET all-embracing, government has introduced a number of tailor-made interventions that specifically target the teaching and learning of technical and vocational education.
“One of such interventions has been the introduction of the TVET Service, an analogous institution to the GES that will ensure that the TVET provision at the pre-tertiary level is properly coordinated. And then at the tertiary level, the amalgamation of COTVET and NABTEX to form a Commission for TVET to be able to provide strategic direction to improving TVET servce delivery in the education sector.”
He added: “These will also be aimed at reorienting the perception that TVET is for academically weak people while encouraging a broad spectrum of people to take keen interest in TVET.”
Dr. Prince Hamid Armah also stressed on the need “to encourage parents and for parents to also encourage their children to develop interest in TVET as the world is gravitating towards a workforce with specialized set of skills and competencies”.
“Today’s world is looking for people who have skills, who have competencies, specific competencies that they can demonstrate to solve real life problems. Not people who will just regurgitate information without being able to apply the knowledge in their everyday context. That if we want people who can demonstrate competency then the pathway is TVET”.
“And this pathway will also inure to providing expanded employment opportunities. Because the people who complete can then start up something on their own and employ people. And there is a fund for that. We have the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project. It’s a multi – million dollar project that is not only helping in setting up institutions and improving infrastructure but also supporting master craftsmen to formalise their skills, and provide funding to start up and expand their business,” the former Director-General of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) added.
By Eric Yaw Adjei|Connect FM|3news.com|Ghana