A graduation ceremony has been held for 265 youth who successfully passed out after three years of undergoing skills training at Aseda Foundation in Takoradi.
The training programme, which was sponsored by the Ghana National Petroleum Corporation Foundation (GNPC Foundation), also saw the latter give free starts-up tools to each of the graduands.
The trainees acquired skills in Masonry, Carpentry, Dressmaking, Plumbing, Tailoring, Spraying, and Aluminum Fabrication amongst others, and received starts up tools from the GNPC Foundation.
The graduation ceremony was attended by high caliber personnel, including the Omanhene of Essikado Traditional Area, Nana Kobina Nketia IV, Nana Kwesi Agyemang IX, Omanhene of Lower Dixcove, Nana Akye Blay, Board Member of GNPC, Awulae Angamatuo Gyan, Omanhene of Gwira, the Mayor of the Sekondi Takoradi Metropolitan Assembly (STMA), Abdul Mumin and many others.
Addressing the ceremony, the Executive Secretary of GNPC Foundation, Dominic Eduah, stated that the purpose for the GNPC Foundation to partner Aseda Foundtaion was to add value to the skills acquire by the graduands.
In adding value, the GNPC Foundation took them through how to acquire soft skills like keeping records, developing partnerships and business ideas.
That apart, they were also to write the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) Examinations as a means of adding value to the skills they had acquired.
The Executive Secretary the Foundation, however, expressed regret over the drop in the number of artisans who registered for the course in the initial stage.
According to him, a total of 400 were initially registered to undergo the three-year skills training programme, but in the course of the training the number dropped to 265.
Dr. Eduah, however, congratulated the remaining who stood their grounds to acquire the skills. Awulae Angamatuo Gyan, Omanhene of Gwira, who was the Chairman for the ceremony, indicated that, imparting skills was not an easy exercise.
So for GNPC and Aseda Foundation to collaborate to impart skills to that number of trainees was encouraging.
He, however, asked whether or not the artisans who had graduated with NVTI certificates were ready to reap the benefits of the skills they had acquired, and expressed the hope that they would not let the investment made in them go down the drain.
