By Rihana Adam, GNA
Accra, Oct. 19, GNA – Stakeholders in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) have called for stronger collaboration between training institutions and industry to equip young people with practical skills to drive Ghana’s industrialisation and economic transformation.
They made the call at a policy dialogue held as part of National TVET Week 2026, on the theme: “Resetting TVET: Powering Ghana’s Industrial and Economic Transformation.”
The dialogue focused on addressing negative perceptions about TVET, strengthening workplace experience learning, improving the relevance of training to industry needs and using labour-market intelligence to enhance employment outcomes.
Mr George Opare Addo, Minister of Youth Development and Employment Relations, said the Government was committed to rebranding, prioritising and investing in TVET to make it an attractive and effective pathway for young people.
He said the challenge was to ensure that reforms in the sector translated into tangible benefits for young people, particularly through improved access to decent employment and entrepreneurial opportunities.
He observed that TVET had long been perceived as an option for children considered academically less capable, a misconception that continued to undermine the sector’s potential.
Mr Opare Addo said success in TVET should not be measured only by enrolment figures or the number of graduates produced, but also by whether graduates secured employment and contributed meaningfully to national development.
He urged stakeholders to challenge outdated assumptions about vocational education and strengthen partnerships with industry to ensure that training programmes prepared learners for the realities of the workplace.
He said, “let us make TVET a first-choice system,” stressing the need for quality training, modern equipment, effective communication and credible employment opportunities to support the sector’s rebranding.
The Minister said countries such as Germany and Switzerland had demonstrated the value of practical training and strong employer participation in vocational education. Ghana could draw lessons from such systems by deepening industry involvement in training and creating more opportunities for students to gain practical workplace experience.
Mr Eric Saforo, Skills and Innovation Lead at YOTA and YES-PACT Coordinator, said the organisations were supporting the Ghana TVET Service’s reform agenda by advocating improvements in workplace experience learning.
He said YOTA and YES-PACT worked with young people to support their education, technical training and vocational development, while engaging industries to provide workplace learning opportunities.
He said the organisations were working to encourage more businesses to accept students who required workplace experience as part of their training, enabling them to acquire practical skills while contributing to industry operations.
Mr Saforo said the policy dialogue provided an opportunity for factories, industries and other stakeholders to discuss ways to improve workplace experience learning and ensure that TVET produced the desired outcomes.
He said YES-PACT was also examining policy gaps within the TVET sector and exploring ways to address them while promoting better coordination among stakeholders.
He said, “TVET is an engine of growth and we need to coordinate activities in the sector to ensure that young people receive the support and opportunities they need.”
Dr Issahaque Munawaru, Deputy Director-General in charge of Quality and Access at the Ghana Education Service (GES), said TVET should not be considered a second-choice educational pathway, particularly at a time when digital technology and industrial development were transforming economies.
He said Ghana’s ambition to expand manufacturing, modernise agriculture and improve infrastructure required a workforce equipped with relevant technical and vocational competencies.
Dr Munawaru said the country needed skilled technicians, electricians, machine operators and other technical professionals to support industrial growth and provide essential services, including affordable housing.
He said changing public attitudes towards TVET required deliberate efforts by educators, policymakers, parents and other stakeholders to recognise and promote the value of technical skills.
He outlined four key priorities for strengthening the sector: aligning training with the world of work, investing in TVET instructors, providing students with practical opportunities and establishing clear pathways to support green growth and industrial transformation.
He said the GES regarded education as a foundation for developing talent, adding that opportunities, rather than talent, were often unequally distributed.
Mr Ebenezer Ato Obu Simpson, Executive Director of the Africa Skills Observatory (ASO), called for a stronger labour-market intelligence system to align TVET programmes with the skills employers required.
He said Ghana’s TVET transformation needed reliable information on skills demand, training-industry alignment and graduate employment outcomes to support evidence-based decisions.
Mr Simpson said the ASO sought to convert labour-market data into intelligence that could improve workforce competitiveness and help training institutions respond to changing economic needs.
He said the organisation could support the sector through skills-demand analysis, institutional benchmarking, skills anticipation and forecasting, as well as decision-support dashboards.
He explained that such tools could help policymakers and training institutions identify occupations in demand, assess whether curricula reflected workplace requirements and monitor the employment outcomes of graduates.
Mr Simpson said a stronger intelligence system would also improve visibility into employment opportunities and help institutions make informed decisions about the programmes and skills they offered.
He said collaboration among government agencies, training institutions, employers and other stakeholders was essential to ensuring that TVET produced graduates with the competencies required to support Ghana’s industrial and economic transformation.
The policy dialogue formed part of efforts to reposition TVET as a key driver of skills development, youth employment, entrepreneurship and national productivity.
The policy dialogue is one of the flagship activities of National TVET Week 2026, launched by the Ghana TVET Service on October 12 at Dabokpa Technical Institute in Tamale.
The five-day celebration, running from October 12 to 16, is being held nationwide — including Accra, Kumasi, Tamale and Ho — on the overarching theme “Resetting TVET for National Development.”
The Week seeks to rebrand TVET, raise public awareness, strengthen industry linkages and promote vocational training as a first-choice pathway to decent work and entrepreneurship. It brings together government officials, industry, development partners, traditional authorities, trainers and learners.
The 2026 edition builds on recent reforms: the establishment of the Ghana TVET Service as the regulatory and coordinating body, the roll-out of the Green TVET Initiative with the International Labour Organization (ILO) to integrate green skills, climate-smart technologies and circular economy practices, and partnerships with industry giants such as the Tema Oil Refinery (TOR).
According to the Ghana Statistical Service, youth unemployment remains a major challenge, with TVET identified by Government’s broader industrialisation agenda — including the 24-Hour Economy Policy — as a critical tool for job creation. International best practice, particularly the dual systems in Germany and Switzerland, has been cited by the Ministry of Education and the Ghana TVET Service as a model for employer-led training.
The celebration also features the “Next Gen Fashion Icon Showcase” at Enclave Gardens, East Legon, where TVET students from institutions such as Anlo Technical Institute and Opportunities Industrialization Technical Institute upcycled discarded textiles into runway fashion, in partnership with The OR Foundation.
During the Week, Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) also called for at least 10 per cent of Ghana’s education budget to be allocated to TVET to address infrastructure and quality gaps.
GNA
Reporter:Rihanna Adams
Edited by Samuel Osei-Frempong