A consultant at the Technical Vocational Education Training {TVET}Mr Stephen Turkson has said that statistics available at the World Bank has indicated that about 80 percent of all work or job activities in the world involve TVET.
According to him, the only 20 percent of courses not related to technical and vocational training are the areas Ghana was focusing which he said was not good for the development of the nation.
He was speaking at a round table conference organized at Koforidua by Vocational Training for Female (VTF) in collaboration with the TVET National Advocacy Committee to solicit the views of stakeholders on how TVET could be a tool to solve the nation’s development agenda.
The stakeholders included educational institutions, industrial and trade associations, the media and TVET Advocates in Ghana.
Giving examples of countries such as Korea, Germany, China and others had developed very fast because of their investments in improving the TVET human resource base.
“The development of the high level skills of the people has resulted in massive development in their respective countries where we go and seek for greener pastures” he added.
Mr Turkson said any country or nation that neglected TVET had problems with its accelerated economic development and youth employment.
He, therefore, called on stakeholders to support TVET to identify the needed key competencies and the relevant skills to create more job opportunities for the youth and to meet the labour market.
The Consultant appealed to leaders in the country, especially the religious leaders to use their influence to change the wrong perception among the youth that TVET was for those who were academically weak.
Mr Turkson further appealed for more support for the Vocational Training for Females (VTF) by changing the policy direction on TVET for the nation to derive its benefits for the youth.
The Director for Vocational Training for Females (VTF), Madam Linda Agyei, said in her welcome remarks that the VTF was for the Presbyterian Church of Ghana (PCG) to provide support services to enhance effective TVET delivery in Ghana.
She reiterated the need for TVET to be a master key for Ghana to achieve its accelerated sustainable goals.
The Director was of the view that TVET had the capacity to create jobs and to transform livelihoods of many people, especially the youth and women in Ghana if the government turned a little attention to it (TVET).
Madam Linda Agyei lauded the government for the current reforms and the attention the TVET sector had received, and called for more consultations to mobilise more support of stakeholders so that TVET would be a good driver and a spring board for national development.
She also called for a drastic change of the bad impressions about TVET to make it a national tool to reduce or for total eradication of poverty and unemployment in Ghana.
Samuel Opare Lartey.
