Technical education crucial to Ghana’s industrialisation agenda

Technical Universities have been asked to develop responsive curricula in line with current labour market trends to facilitate Ghana’s industrialised agenda.

“Ghana as a nation cannot develop without well-equipped technical and vocational institutions,” Professor Abednego Amartey, the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Professional Studies, Accra (UPSA) said at the 21st Congregation of the Accra Technical University (ATU).

The ceremony, which is the second session of this year saw 3,109 graduands made up of 2,636 with Higher National Diploma, 244 with Diploma, and 229 from the Ghana Armed Forces Military Academy and Training Schools graduating.

Professor Amartey stated that the ability of Technical Universities to imbibe the requisite technical knowledge and skills into students would ensure that the future workforce was productive.

He said the problem of unemployment had worsened as millions of school graduates of tertiary institutions remained unemployed due to a lack of the necessary occupational skills.

“These occupational skills can be provided by technical and vocational education which is clearly the key to sustainable job creation in Ghana,” he said.

Professor Amartey urged Technical Universities to concentrate on their core mandate of training the youth to develop technical skills and competencies to feed the industrial operations for the development and growth of the country.

He called for the inclusion of entrepreneurial skills into the curriculum of Technical Universities to enable students to explore right from school the ability to be self-employed.

Professor Amartey encouraged Technical Universities to also equip students with soft skills to enable them to develop knacks in communication, leadership, teamwork, time management, conflict resolution, and crisis management, which were valuable in the fast-changing world.

Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education said technical education was a priority of the government and would continue to make a sustained investment in the sector to ensure it delivered on its mandate.

He said, the government considered technical education as the driving force of sustainable development and would not relent in its efforts to support educational training that provided knowledge and skills for employment opportunities for the teeming youth.

“Government understands the vital role technical and vocational education play in the development of every country and is committed to providing access to quality TVET for all in an equitable manner”, he added.

Dr Adutwum said the country could not develop without increasing the gross enrolment ratio of the educational sector.

“That is why we need everyone to support the free senior high school to give the opportunity to the majority of the people in the rural areas to go to school to unearth their talents,” he said.

Professor Samuel Nii Odai, the Vice-Chancellor of ATU, said seven out of the 27 programmes had received accreditation and were running.

They included Accounting and Finance Analytics, Cyber Security, Electrical and Electronics Engineering, Medical Laboratory Science and Water and Sanitation Engineering.

He said the school and relevant stakeholders were working together on a number of initiatives including enhancing students’ experience, obtaining accreditation for more Tech programmes, strengthening international collaborations, Initiate the construction of the first of three proposed students’ hostels.

Ms Abena Bondziwa Bonney, an Electrical/Electronic Engineering student was adjudged the overall graduating best student.