PParticipants at a one day Round Table Conference on Technical Vocational Education and Training, (TVET), have called for the inclusion of TVET institutions under the Free Senior High School Policy (FSHSP).
That they explained was the only way to make the course attractive to the youth.
“The youth who enrol in TVET schools are also Ghanaians, why can’t the government extent the FSHSP to them?” they queried.
The conference was organised by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana under its Vocational Training for Females (VTF) programmes in collaboration with the Youth Bridge Foundation, (YBF).
The participants were drawn from public and private TVET institutions, beauticians, food and beverage manufacturers as well as students from some of the institutions.
According to them, the time had come to re-brand TVET and make it attractive to Junior High School leavers.
The participants called on the management of TVET institutions to improve on the infrastructure at all institutions to make it attractive to parents who want their wards to pursue programmes under TVET.
The participants appealed to the government to transform the informal sector to enable it meet the challenges of the time.
“The informal sector must have a holistic framework to make apprenticeship meet the challenges of the time,” they added.
The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of TVET, Ms Barbara Asher, said the government was in the process of creating a separate ministry for the TVET sector.
That she explained would make the institutions attractive after the re-branding, so as to inspire more young women into TVET programmes.
The General Manager of Presbyterian Schools and Director of Education, Mrs Rosemond Appenteng said the church through VTF had for the past 18 years mobilised resources to place premium on TVET.
She said the forum would offer stakeholders the opportunity to dialogue and offer useful suggestions for the total transformation of TVET in the country.
BY LAWRENCE VOMAFA-AKPALU
