Kissi-Kwahinkrom (C/R), April 01, GNA – As the 2021/2022 Computerized School Selection and Placement into Senior High and Technical Schools progresses, parents and guardians have been urged not to discourage children who opt for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
They have been asked to eschew the erroneous misconception regarding TVET as the preserve of the academically weak students, instead they should support and allow all children to pursue their dreams, particularly females who desired TVET.
Mr Ebo Appiah, the Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for the Komenda-Edina-Eguafo-Abrem (KEEA) gave the advice at the graduation ceremony for 22 trainees of the Baobab School for Trades and Traditional Arts at Kissi-Kwahinkrom, near Komenda.
The colourful graduation coincided with the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the Baobab Children Foundation that birthed the School amidst beautiful cultural display and traditional music to the admiration of all.
The graduands were trained in kente weaving, carpentry, painting and decoration, cane and bamboo products, batik, tie/dye, dressmaking and tailoring.
The Baobab Foundation was founded by Madame Edith de Vos, a German teacher in 2001 to uphold the rights of children and, through education, improve their lives.
The Foundation financially supports hundreds of young people with technical education, vocation training and health care.
Mr Appiah said Ghanaians could no longer continue with the negative stereotypes of vocational and technical education, which was key to the development of every country.
“We should desist from perceiving TVET as programmes for students who are academically weak but the surest way to transform Ghana through job creation and industrialization drive”, he stressed.
He said government recognized its basic responsibilities of providing the necessary opportunities for the youth of the country through the development and implementation of appropriate policies and programmes to engender socioeconomic development.
Furthermore, all TVET institutions had been captured under the Ghana TVET Service on the CSSPS for selection by junior high school graduates across the country to benefit from the government’s free TVET and free senior high school policy.
As part of implementing the TVET agenda, he said the government was establishing the first-ever second-cycle TVET applied Technology High Schools across the country.
The schools would offer career-based technical education which will integrate career and technical education with rigorous academic core and industry participation to make it demand driven.
“The programmes will be benchmarked against international best practices and standards. Most importantly, the Applied Technology High School will build strategic alliances with community, industry, development partners and the government to ensure that it is responsive to national needs and expectations of socio-economic transformation,” he said.
Under the initiative, he said there was also the opportunity for those who would complete the TVET programme to continue from the national proficiency level through certificate and Higher National Diploma (HND) levels to Bachelor of Technology (B.Tech), Master of Technology (M.Tech) and Doctor of Technology with the national TVET qualifications framework which the commission was implementing.
Mr Appiah commended the Institute for ensuring that the youth, who desired to learn technical vocation, had the opportunity to explore their talents to earn a living and entreated the graduates to endeavour to set up their own businesses.
Highlighting the history and achievements of the school, Madame de Vos, Founder of the Baobab Foundation said the School started with providing basic education to street children at the Baobab Centre, in 2005.
However, the project developed into the Baobab School for Trades and Traditional Arts, an inclusive school offering vocational training thereafter.
The facility supports the training of young people from the most vulnerable groups in society, people with little or no formal education, disability or health issues and brilliant but needy students.
Madame de Vos was proud of the achievements of all graduates who, despite the odds, overcame barriers to pursue their education and gave themselves a better chance of employment in the future.
GNA