Technical, vocational training solutions to employability challenges – Education Minister

The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu says technical and vocational training education will help tackle issues of employability on the job market.

Speaking during the inauguration of the Accra Technical University Governing Council on Tuesday, the minister said vocational education requires substantial investment that will enable the youth to build their skills.

He said it was important that technical training was not regarded as a discipline for academically weak students but rather a strong alternative for employment in the country.

“As I’ve repeatedly said, I’m very convinced that the answer to answering Ghana’s employability question. It lies in emphasizing and investing in technical and vocational training and building the skills of our young people, and more importantly, trying to emphasize that let us not see technical education as being dedicated or reserved for the less academically inclined or those young people who are not conformists.

“So we need to brand technical education as an acceptable alternative route to employability,” he remarked at the meeting.

Mr. Iddrisu said that although Accra Technical University (ATU) had expanded its degree and master’s degree programmes, there was a challenge with its transition from a polytechnic to a technical university. He said that the institution needed to find means of onboarding students who gained admission through the Diploma in Business Studies (DBS) programmes.

He explained that the programmes gave opportunities to students to learn certain skills even before they took the institution’s main courses.

“Polytechnics, as they were referred to, have not transitioned into technical universities. Before then, they gave opportunities to young people to come through the DBS window and to fill a critical vacuum in the development of human capital from secondary education through polytechnic to university.

“Now you have the polytechnic becoming universities. What do we do for the category of young people who are without entry, qualification into a technical university but need to be equipped with some training and skills that assure them of a livelihood and gives them an opportunity to make a contribution to the development of our country? the minister quizzed.

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The ATU Governing Council is the latest to be inaugurated after those of the University of Cape Coast, University of Ghana, University of Education, Winneba, University of Mines and Technology, just to mention a few.

Mr. Iddrisu has been steadfast in his commitment to supporting the various tertiary institutions to enable them to address lingering concerns, including infrastructural support.