The Foundation for Security Development in Africa (FOSDA), has called on the government to address the infrastructure challenges that have bedeviled Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the country.
According to FOSDA, the TVET sector can be one of the employers for young people when the government gives it critical attention in addressing the challenges.
“From the presentations we have been making we realized that there have been transformations and as much as one billion US dollars ($1 billion) spent so far. From our perspective and the youth perspective the best thing happening is more young people choosing TVET.
“But the infrastructure challenges remain largely the same and that is a worry for us and that is one of the reasons most young people were not choosing TVET in the past. So what is changing? Those are some of the challenges we hope that we can all share ideas on and how to address them as soon as possible,” the Executive Director for FOSDA, Theodora W. Anti disclosed during 2023 TVET Forum held at Institute of Africa Studies at the University of Ghana on Tuesday September 5, 2023.
The forum organized by FOSDA with funding from OXFAM was under the theme “5 years of TVET Transformation in Ghana Enhancing Opportunities for Youth Employment in Ghana.”
Since 2011, Ghana’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector has undergone significant policy reforms, including the five-year strategic plan and passage of the Pre-Tertiary Education Act 1049 which merged all sectorial TVET institutions under the Ministry of Education.
The rebranding of the Council on Technical Vocation Education and Training (COTVET) to the Commission on TVET (CTVET) is also a significant reform which enhances regulation and effective administration of the TVET sector.
However, the Executive Director for FOSDA believes that the government can do more in order to make TVET attractive to the young people.
According to her, FOSDA has been engaging ECOWAS with the support of OXFAM and funding from DANIDA to adopt an action plan for TVET for all States within the sub-region.
“So that we can unify TVET services or TVET education implementation across the ECOWAS States that will help with human employment across the sub-region. So this is what we (FOSDA) have been doing and it is our hope that this meeting will help address some of the lapses or gaps in the sector,” she added.
FOSDA Research lead, Solomon Okai also gave a presentation which covered the Provisional Report of My TVET MY Report: A Youth-led TVET institutions monitoring Project covering access and Participation, TVET Quality Delivery, TVET Financing, and Green TVET adaptation.
In attendance for the forum include Nation Youth Network (10), Students, General public, Oxfam, World Bank, Ghana Union of Tertiary Education among other interest groups.
Source: Ghana/Starrfm.com.gh/103.5FM
