By Francis Ofori
Accra, Nov.17, GNA-Madam Nana Ama Mensah, Head, Diversity and Inclusive Education Unit of the Ghana Technical Vocation Education and Training (TVET) Service has urged Technical Institutions to admit more females in male-dominated programmes to increase job prospects.
She explained that the current statistics showed that only 26 per cent of the population of TVET institutions in country were females.
Madam Mensah gave the advice during an event “So Me Mu” mentorship programme at the New Century School, formerly Dansoman Technical Institute in Accra.
The ‘So Me Mu’ mentorship programme, under the Invest in Her campaign is a five-year initiative implemented by the World University Service of Canada to build a sustainable pathway to enhance economic empowerment, well-being, and inclusive growth for over 5000 young women.
“The commitment of the Ghana TVET Services to give equal playing field to both boys and girls is what we are focused on and that is why we have created a whole unit called the Diversity and Inclusive education to help both genders to access any course you want,” she said.
The Head of Diversity and Inclusive Education Unit said government, together with other private organizations were keen on curbing the perception of females who were in male dominated areas.
She also urged young entrepreneurs to give off their best in their fields despite the challenges they encountered.
Madam Mensah said Persons with Disability also had a role to play in the TVET industry to equip them with the needed skills, hence the need to put the right policies in place to sure that they were not discriminated.
She encouraged the students to see the mentorship programme as an opportunity to also learn new things to help them in their future endeavors.
Madam Juliana Ohenewaa Amoako-Twum, Public Engagement and Advocacy Advisor at WUSC said, “Over the past four years, we have provided support for sector actors, I mean TVET landscape sector actors to strengthen their capacity to deliver quality courses to the students.
She noted that the project was focused on encouraging young women to consider male dominated career trades as a viable career option.
Madam Amoako-Twum said social norms, cultural beliefs and public perception were some challenges WUSC had faced in their quest to change the narrative in the TVET industry.
With just a year left to end the ‘So me Mu’ programme, WUSC has impacted the lives of many young girls by creating a sustainable pathway for them through TVET and other initiatives.
The “Invest in Her” project, which aims at improving public and industry attitudes towards women’s participation in high-growth and non-traditional sectors is expected to end in March,2025.
GNA