By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Bolgatanga, Nov 9, GNA – Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has the greatest potential for job creation and sustainable job security for the youth, Mr William Aduum, the Upper East Regional Director, Ghana TVET Service, has said.
According to him, the TVET sector offered practical knowledge and skills to persons and students that would equip and empower them to be self-employed and create a chain of employment opportunities for others.
Additionally, the TVET had the potential to empower the youth to withstand the job insecurity threats posed by emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Speaking at the maiden national TVET campaign in Bolgatanga on the theme: “Transforming Ghana’s skills: the future starts here,” Mr Aduum called for increased investment to strengthen TVET institutions and the informal sector, to promote self-reliance and entrepreneurship.
“We must also commit to government that we need to do a lot, we should invest a lot in the TVET landscape, and this is what will bring Ghana to the limelight,” he said.
“Many of the great nations we see in this world are people who have gone into TVET, such as Japan, China, Malaysia and America among others, they have built their economies through the activities of TVET.”
The Regional Director noted that research had shown that AI was posing a serious threat to many white colour jobs and many people would soon lose their jobs to technology, adding that TVET offered the greatest alternative to addressing the losses.
“A labour expert has said that in the next 20 to 30 years due to AI, people will complete the ‘grammar’ schools and will look for jobs from TVET students, so there is the need to build skills”, he said.
He said it was refreshing that the two major political parties, New Patriotic Party and National Democratic Congress, had recognised the power of TVET to socioeconomic development and had prioritised TVET in their 2024 manifestoes.
He, therefore, urged stakeholders to intensify education to demystify misconceptions surrounding TVET and encourage students to pursue TVET courses and programmes in the second cycle and tertiary institutions.
Mr Zachariah Yorose, the Principal, Bolgatanga Technical Institute, said the originator of TVET was God when he created man using clay through creativity and added that TVET had a crucial role to play in addressing Ghana’s unemployment situation and building a resilient economy.
He urged the TVET students, “don’t abandon your skill, you are not in the wrong place, you are at the right place of learning…” he added.
Madam Diana Kwakye Ayettey, the Principal, Bolgatanga Central Technical Institute, noted that TVET was the best way to stimulate entrepreneurship and economic growth and encouraged parents to allow their wards to choose TVET programmes in their educational ladder.
Mr Rex Asanga, the Bolgatanga Municipal Chief Executive, commended the Ghana TVET Service for the efforts it was making to encourage more people into the sector for economic transformation and added that the move would encourage more people to venture into the sector and create jobs.
He noted that the current government had prioritised and invested hugely into the TVET sector due its potential impact on the economy and underscored the commitment of government to strengthen all TVET learning institutions across the country to provide the needed tuition to young Ghanaians.
As part of the celebration, TVET institutions and the informal sector embarked on cleaning up exercise, float, exhibition, and football gala to raise awareness about TVET and demystify misconception surrounding the sector.
GNA