A 29-paged National Apprenticeship Policy, which aims to deliver a well-coordinated inter-sectoral national apprenticeship system to enable all categories of learners to acquire relevant skills for employment, livelihood empowerment and socio-economic development has been launched.
The policy provides a robust regulatory framework for meaningful partnerships, social dialogue, institutional arrangements among the key stakeholders and strong labour market relevance.
Launching the Policy during the National TVET Expo 2022 in Accra, Dr Yaw OseiAdutwum, Minister for Education indicated that the goal of the policy is to provide a framework for harmonizing apprenticeship practice in Ghana and also provides mechanisms and guidelines for effective coordination and implementation of good practices in apprenticeship practice for economic growth and national development.
He explained that the policy will help actors in the development of appropriate interventions to move the apprenticeship sector in the right direction in contributing to skill development, decent work and economic and social development.
The Education Minister stated that the symbiotic relationship between Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and national development cannot be over-emphasized.
He explained that the development of skills that meet a changing labour market across a lifetime was crucial for inclusive and sustainable growth, productivity, and innovation, adding that TVET, digitalization and greening were driving deep changes and economies could only benefit if learners develop the right skills and competencies.
DrAdutwum indicated that it was an undeniable fact that the provision of TVET was the panacea to the mounting unemployment among the teeming Ghanaian youth and it is against this background that the nation needed to have balanced skills demand and supply in our educational system, especially in our part of the globe.
SDG alignment
The Education Minister who is also the Member of Parliament for Bosomtwe stated that education and training were central to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goal and President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s vision of transforming Ghana.
He said there was a need for the nation to pay attention to TVET specifically regarding access to affordable quality TVET for the acquisition of technical and vocational skills for employment, decent work and entrepreneurship; the elimination of gender disparity and ensuring access to the vulnerable.
The Director General of CTVET, Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, in his welcome address stated that TVET held enormous potential for propelling Ghana’s economy to attain the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda and hence the purposeful investment in the sector by the government in addition to the introduction of key reforms for its transformation.
National TVET Expo 2022
He said the National TVET Expo was aimed at providing a platform for multi-sectoral collaboration towards promoting TVET in Ghana and bringing it to the fore in national discussions.
The Director General announced that marketing and communication were central to any organisation’s success and TVET marketing and communication meant active engagement in understanding the needs of the industry as well as learners and responding to those needs.
Dr Asamoah indicated that it was based on that background that the government set out as part of its five-year strategic plan to transform TVET to introduce the MyTVET campaign in 2019 and through efficient and productive marketing and communication with all relevant stakeholders, the TVET system in Ghana will be known for providing high-quality education for all students and a skilled workforce for the economy.
Governance and Management
The Deputy Minister for Education in charge of TVET, Madam Gifty Twum- Ampofo, lauded the government for providing a coherent legal and institutional framework for the TVET sector to be accountable and responsive to the demands of the private sector and other stakeholders.
She enumerated some of the policies as the establishment of the Commission for TVET to regulate and promote the Sector, Realigning all TVET institutions under the Ministry of Education, the Establishment of the TVET Service to manage pre-tertiary TVET, Establishment of an Apex training institution to train TVET staff for both the public and the private sector and establishment of Sector Skills Bodies to enhance linkages with the industry and private sector among others.
The Deputy Minister the development partners in the TVET space such as GIZ, the World Bank, World University Service of Canada-WUSC, CAMFED, ILO, NUFFIC, WEE-NORTH as well as Global Affairs Canada for their immense contribution towards the development of the sector.
There was an exhibition of works by various TVET institutions and firms dealing in TVET equipment and as well as Non-Governmental Organizations doing advocacy in the TVET space.
By Felix Baidoo
