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TVET urged to design curriculum for effective training of students

A university don has urged authorities in charge of the Technical, Vocational and Education Training (TVET) to collaborate with industry, to design curriculum for the effective training of students, towards national development.

The Acting Dean of the Faculty of Technical Education at the Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneur Development, Professor Humphrey Danso, noted that the current curriculum did not allow for students to be trained to meet industrial needs of the country.

Prof. Danso made the call at the 18th Biennial Workshop of the Ghana Science Association, held in Koforidua, in the Eastern Region on the theme: “Achieving Ghana Beyond Aid: Positioning TVET to Drive Ghana’s Industralisation in a Post COVID Era”.

It  brought together experts in the areas of science and TVET, to discuss problems and suggest solutions to drive the country’s development.

Prof Danso noted that students were rather trained to perform tasks which made them become proficient in areas not needed by industry, hence become unemployed and a burden on society.

He said “TVET needs to focus on using competence-based training and for a start, stakeholders must identify the needs and engage experts in those areas to design an appropriate curriculum with the necessary courses, and train students on those courses, so that they can fit in when they are done with their training.”

Prof Danso said such move would enable the country to get the needed human resource to drive national development through industry.

He noted that there was a huge gap between industry and human resource, which was a major contributor to the country’s underdevelopment.

“For example, in Ghana, stakeholders have realized that in the construction industry, we need professionals with skills in POP, special roofing, tiling and bio-technology. In the oil industry, we need professionals like welders,” Prof Danso noted.

He lamented that the country lacked such professionals, adding that “expatriates w imported from other countries were engaged and paid huge sums of money, which is a loss to the country.”

Prof. Danso said there was the need to train students to enable them find solutions confronting industry to drive national development.

He urged students who attain training outside the country to return home and apply their knowledge and skill.

Dr Stephen Turkson, an engineer, called on stakeholders in the education sector to ensure a properly trained guidance and counselling unit, to guide students on courses they chose.

As part of the programme, students of St Paul’s Technical Institute, Koforidua Technical Institute and the Koforidua Technical University, among others, displayed various engineering works and artifacts.

Four students, who participated in Young Achievers Challenge Award, and had their articles published in Everyday Science for Schools magazine, were honoured.

FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA

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