Navrongo (U/E), Oct 3, GNA – A senior high school graduate has urged her colleague graduates not to rely solely on the acquisition of formal education, but they should in addition learn to acquire entrepreneurship and employable skills.
Ms Elizabeth Ayerewogei Wuriya, a -23-year-old girl, graduate of the Chiana Senior High School (SHS) in the Kassena-Nankana West of the Upper East Region, noted that she would empower her collegues to set up their own businesses after graduating instead of depending solely on the government to employ them.
The 23-year-old girl who is learning weaving skills at the Our Lady of Mercy Community Services (OLAM), a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in Navrongo, gave the advice when some of the products of OLAM took part at this year’s National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) Examination in Navrongo.
The products of OLAM who were empowered with various entrepreneurship and employable skills such as smock, bags, sandal weaving, batik, tie and dye, tailoring, beds making and soap making among others participated in this year’s NVTI Examination.
According to Ms Wuriya, she could have continued her studies to the tertiary level after the completion of her SHS, but she decided to forgo that aspect and to learn and acquire entrepreneurship and employable skills.
She explained that she decided to abandon tertiary education because she realized that many people who had acquired entrepreneurial skills were making it in life more than majority of people working in the public and civil sectors.
She proposed to the graduate students to think outside the box while in school on how to help complement government’s efforts at creating jobs for others instead of waiting on government to generate jobs for the teaming graduates in the country.
Mr Emmanuel Atiiga, the Executive Director of OLAM, explained that his outfit decided to collaborate with the government to empower the students who were predominantly deprived girls, because after the NVTI examination they could be well positioned in the job market and to also continue to the tertiary level.
He commended the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSWA), Vastenactie–Belgium and Plan International-Ghana for supporting the implementation of the intervention and said the NGO had in the past empowered over 900 deprived girls in Navrongo and beyond with entrepreneurship skills.
He mentioned lack of start-up capital for the students after the end of their training programmes and the overwhelming number of girls who usually express interest to be enrolled in the entrepreneurship skills training programme and appealed for more support from development partners and the government to help address the challenges.
Mr Atiga further commended the Directorate of the NVTI for making OLAM, one of the centres in the country for conducting the NVTI examination.
GNA