Council for Technical and Vocational training set up

Government, in its effort to revamp Technical and Vocational Training, has set up the National Council for Technical and Vocational Training Educational (COTVET) to guide policy makers and sensitise the public on the new vision for Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET). The Council would seek to provide adequate resources for quality TVET delivery, come out with a plan for improved condition of services for TVET teachers and provide linkages between training institutions and industries. Speaking at the 23rd conference of the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions APTI), Professor Dominic Fobih, Minister of Education, Science and Sports, called on the principals to help COTVET to work effectively by providing it with the necessary information and assistance that it might require from them. He said all over the world, technical and vocational education had been recognised as the foundation to industrialisation and the promotion of economic development. "The challenges and opportunities for Technical and Vocational Education can only be met if all of us would be committed and give serious attention to the TVET sector." To increase accesses to TVET, he said, Government through the Ghana Education Service (GES) had absorbed three more private technical institutes into the public system to increase the number to 26. Professor Fobih said students in technical institutes in addition to their regular elective trades were now going to have the opportunity to study fully the five core Senior High School subjects of English, Mathematics, Social studies, Science and Information and Communication Technology. "This will allow graduates of TVET institutions enhance their understanding of current technological development in their trades, as well as address the challenges of academic progression to tertiary institutions, which has been a problem in technical education in the past," he said. In a message read on his behalf, Nana Akomeah, Minister of Manpower, Youth and Employment, said the introduction of the new education reform would enable the nation to derive the maximum benefits from its education systems, especially the technical and vocational education training. He pledged the Ministry's commitment to the successful implementation of the COVNET and called on the principals to also do the same. Mr John Sylvester Boafo, President of APTI, appealed to the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports for the provision of adequate textbooks and buses for TVET schools, opportunity for industrial attachment for both teachers and students and better condition of service for teachers. He appealed to the Ministry and the Ghana Education Service to award TVET institutions with jobs to serve a platform for practical training and also supplement the cost of running the institutions.