The Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Mrs Gifty Twum-Ampofo, has entreated parents to encourage their wards to acquire skills in the Technical and Vocational Training field.
According to her, mainstreaming skills development was central to the development of a nation, noting that developed countries often focused on TVET education.
Speaking at this year’s Speech and Prize-Giving day and Graduation ceremony of the Association Community Model Basic School (ACMBS) in Accra on Tuesday, Mrs Twum-Ampofo added that the attainment of technical and vocational skills was critical to the workforce of the country as it would help prevent children, especially students from falling prey to the exposure of social media.
A total of 734 pupils, comprising 343 boys and 390 girls from various departments were awarded with promotional certificates.
The colourful ceremony, on the theme ‘Technical and Vocational Education; the untapped potential for the accelerated growth of Ghana,’ was climaxed with drama performances from pupils.
The Sector Minister said “education is an important tool to every society’s progress and for it to be meaningful we must go beyond mere academic instruction and moral discipline and rather focus on creating the skills of the students to improve their competence.”
Mrs Twum-Ampofo emphasised the importance of technical and vocational training to the successful grooming of students and urged parents to desist from discouraging their wards from taking up courses in that direction.
“Fields of technical and vocational training such as interior designing, catering, fashion designing and weaving is beneficial in job creation and employment as it will limit the time children spend on their phones in the era of social media evils, “ she emphasised.
Mr Vincent Sowah Odotei, Deputy Minister of Communication and Member of Parliament for La Dadekotopon, reiterated the government’s commitment to improving education in the country.
In line with this, he announced that his outfit would commence the construction of five other Community Model schools in the municipality by September.
This, he noted, would give children in the municipality fair chances in accessing quality education in the area as well as transform the education in the area.
Mr Theodore Adjetey Adjei, Headmaster of the school, said the school had over the years strived to be among the overall best schools in the municipality.
He noted that for two consecutive years, students from the school had benefited from the President’s Independence Day Awards for brilliant students who excelled in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).
On some challenges facing the school, Mr Adjei called on government to help provide new classroom blocks to ease congestion in the Primary Department.
Additionally, the headmaster noted that the school was contending with huge utility bills which were taking up a chunk of the school’s recurrent expenditure.
BY DEBORAH ASUMA
