Accra, July 8, GNA – Over 1,000 students at the University of Ghana, Legon, are to benefit from a skill-up training programme designed to train, inspire and equip them with job creation skills.
This would ensure that they come out of the University as skilled professionals and as graduates with entrepreneurship skills, ready for the job market and be able to establish their own businesses in the small and medium scale sectors.
The Students Representative Council (SRC) of the University of Ghana (UG), initiated and designed the Skill-Up for Jobs Bootcamp, an experiential training and exposure programme that would allow interested students to undergo a four- week programme on weekends, comprising of in-person practical skills sessions, which would focus on employability skills in selected disciplines.
At the launch of the project in Accra, Mr Prince Asumadu, SRC President, said the students decided to initiate the programme, bearing in mind the rate of unemployment in the country, which had become a critical issue for the nation.
He quoted a World Bank report, which indicated that as of 2020, Ghana had 12 per cent youth unemployment and more than 50 per cent underemployment “which are both higher than the overall unemployment rates in sub-Saharan Africa.”
Also, there is an increasing annual population of trained manpower from the tertiary institutions but their training in the formal education programmes had not been aligned with skills development initiatives in the context of a fast-changing labour market.
Mr Asumadu said the programme, would therefore, kick-start on July 23, to allow 1,000 out of the 68,000 students population of the university to go online to select programmes in photography, bricks-making, graphic design, event deco, breaded jewellery, film and video editing, customised paper bag making, parties and confectionary and snail/Mushroom/ Honey value chain development.
Other programmes included artisanal chocolate jam and jelly, manure, coir and biochar planting media, food aggregation, storage, transport and processing, ornamentals, ICT, floral design and landscaping, makeup artists, as well as fashion, leather and textiles, among others.
They would be enrolled onto the programme, trained free of charge, and provided some stipends just to ensure that they acquire the skills that would make them businesspeople during and after schooling.
Mr Stephen Gyasi Kwaw, Managing Director and Founder of Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN) Ghana, said his organisation was partnering the SRC and the Institute of Applied Science and Technology, UG to implement the programme.
He said the project was intended to provide entrepreneurial skills mind-set, as well as reducing the graduate unemployment gap.
He said after the training, there would be skill for job summit, which would be organised for the beneficiaries and then they would be introduced to the Youstart, project of the Ghanacares Obantapa programme being implemented by the state and be given some start-ups to establish their own businesses.
He urged corporate Ghana, alumni, and both public and private institutions and the media to support the programme to make it successful and sustainable.
Mr Kofi Ofosu Nkansah, Chief Executive Officer, National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, who declared the launch, commended the SRC-UG, for the novel initiative and indicated the willingness of the Government to support all 1,000 students with start-ups should they all come out with viable business ideas to establish them.
“The Government is focussed on building an economy that empowers Ghanaian youth and we will ensure that that is done”.
GNA