The Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has signalled for work to begin on the construction of Phase One of 32 State of the Art Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) facilities to be built across the country in furtherance of the Government’s goal of making Ghana a world-class centre for skills development and also make skills acquisition aspirational for all Ghanaians.

When completed, each Region will have two such centres, further increasing access to technical and vocational education, as well as providing opportunities for skills acquisition and upgrading for practising artisans in order to meet the country’s development needs, especially the demands of the industry.

Performing the launch on Monday, 6th June 2022 Vice President Bawumia said the construction of the facilities forms part of a broader government plan to make Ghana’s education system more responsive to industry needs.

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“At the start of our administration in 2017, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo set out a clear plan to industrialize Ghana and one of the key pillars of that agenda is to revamp and modernize TVET so that it becomes responsive to the needs of industry. Also hinged on this vision is the dream to make TVET aspirational among the youth,” he explained.

Scope

The 32 State of the Art facilities Project has a number of broad aims including improving youth employment, especially in the rural areas; expanding equitable access in public TVET institutions targeting females and rural poor; improving the relevance and quality of TVET delivery, and building technical and management capacity of CTVET and other skills training centres.

As well, the project is expected to equip the youth with entrepreneurship skills; adopt the cooperative approach to skills training for the youth to create their own jobs; retrain current workers who have skill gaps, and imbue in master craftsmen the aptitude for productivity and credibility.

It will comprise the establishment of One (1) TVET Centre of Excellence, 16 Category A Centres and 15 Category B Centres. All these institutions will be provided with a variety of infrastructure which ranges from administration blocks, accommodation facilities, common areas, playing grounds, furniture, fittings and external works, tools and equipment for workshops, and ICT.

The nine facilities to be constructed under Phase One include a Centre of Excellence at Abrankese (Ashanti region); six ‘Category A’ facilities to be located at Boako (Western North), Kenyasi (Ahafo), Patuda (Bono East), Dambai (Oti), Salaga (Savannah), and Guabuliga (North East); and two Category B facilities at Akyem Awisa (Eastern) and Tolibri (Upper West).

TVET is Key

Performing the launch on Monday, 6th June 2022 Vice President said the construction of the State of the Art facilities forms part of a broader government plan to make Ghana’s education system become responsive to industry needs.

“The President’s goal is to make Ghana a world-class centre for skills development and a leading country in technical and vocational education training (TVET) delivery in Africa and also make skills acquisition aspirational for all Ghanaians.

“In relation to this, the NPP Government over the past five (5) years has worked to improve on governance and management by establishing the Commission for TVET (CTVET) and the TVET Service through the passing of Act 1023 and Act 1049 respectively to enhance quality, expand access, and increase funding for TVET.

“We are consolidating our gains in the past years by keeping to our promise. One way we are trying to achieve these ambitious, yet achievable objectives are plans to construct 32-State of the art TVET centres in all 16 regions in Ghana which means that each region will get 2 of these centres” he indicated.

“TVET”, Dr Bawumia emphasized, “is a key catalyst to spur the country’s industrialisation agenda and create decent job opportunities for the citizens of this country. For sustainable development to take place, therefore, we must pay significant attention to the urgent need for us to train and make available to the industry highly skilled human resources to serve as the key drivers of the economy.

“Several challenges faced the TVET sector before our government took office in 2017. Today I am happy to report to the people of Ghana, that the reforms which were put in place in the TVET sector are taking shape and yielding results. One of such reforms is the reason we are here today to officially cut the sod for construction to begin on this project.”