TVET now central to Ghana’s economic strategy – Dr. Apaak

Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has been placed at the centre of Ghana’s national development strategy, Deputy Education Minister Dr Clement Apaak has said.

Speaking af the Canada-Ghana Workforce Development and Skills Forum in Accra on Monday, Dr Apaak said Ghana has made a deliberate policy choice to prioritise skills development, particularly TVET, as the backbone of industrialisation, job creation, and long-term economic competitiveness.

“Skills development, particularly Technical and Vocational Education and Training, will sit at the very centre of our national development strategy,” he stated, stressing that the approach goes beyond policy declarations. “This is not rhetoric. It is policy. It is an investment. And it is action.”

He explained that the shift is driven by rapid global changes in the nature of work, including automation, artificial intelligence, digitalisation and climate transition, which are reshaping labour markets worldwide.

According to him, Ghana’s young and growing population makes skills development both an opportunity and a necessity.

“If our young people are skilled, productive, and globally competitive, this demographic reality will become our greatest economic advantage. If they are not, it will become our greatest source of instability,” he warned.

Dr Apaak said the government is repositioning TVET as a first-choice pathway rather than a fallback option, noting that countries that have successfully industrialised relied on strong, industry-aligned skills systems.

“Countries that have successfully industrialised did not do so by theory alone. They did so by aligning skills training directly with industry, productivity and national economic priorities,” he said.

He outlined ongoing institutional reforms, including the roles of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training and the Ghana TVET Service, aimed at delivering “a coordinated national TVET system—one that is industry-responsive, quality-assured and outcome-driven.”

On workforce readiness, Dr Apaak emphasised the need for training that leads directly to jobs and income.

“Training must lead to productivity. Certification must lead to employability. And education must lead to income,” he said.

He added that digital and green skills are being embedded across TVET programmes, while apprenticeship and entrepreneurship initiatives are being expanded to address youth unemployment.

Dr Apaak also called for deeper partnerships with Canada, describing collaboration as essential to scaling Ghana’s workforce transformation. “Ghana cannot and does not seek to do this alone,” he said, underscoring the importance of moving “beyond projects to systems” in skills development partnerships.