Tag: transformation

  The Minister for Youth Development and Empowerment, George Opare Addo, has called for innovative and sustainable financing mechanisms to strengthen Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), proposing an apprenticeship fund to support skills development and prepare young people for employment. Speaking at the National TVET Week 2026 Policy Dialogue on the theme, “Resetting TVET: Powering Ghana’s Industrial and Economic Transformation,” the Minister said government funding alone would not be sufficient to meet the growing demands of apprenticeship training and technical education. He proposed a funding arrangement that would require companies that depend on skilled labour either to provide apprenticeship opportunities or contribute financially to a dedicated apprenticeship fund to support the training of future workers. According to him, the proposed arrangement would help address funding gaps, provide opportunities for more young people to acquire practical skills and ensure a steady supply of trained workers for industry. “Government alone cannot fund apprenticeship training. We must begin to look for innovative ways of funding apprenticeship training,” he said. Mr Opare Addo explained that many businesses recruit workers who have already received training elsewhere and subsequently generate profits from their skills without contributing sufficiently to developing the next generation of skilled workers. He argued that companies benefiting from skilled labour should play a greater role in financing its development, either by training apprentices directly or contributing to a dedicated fund. The proposed mechanism, he said, would help government mobilise additional resources to retool TVET institutions, expand apprenticeship opportunities and make technical and vocational education more attractive to young people and their parents. The Minister said his ministry intended to present a memorandum to government on the proposed funding option following lessons drawn from a recent visit to some European countries, where apprenticeship funding models were examined. The call for sustainable financing was also highlighted by Eric Saforo, Team Lead of Youth Opportunity and Transformation in Africa (YOTA), who said the establishment of a TVET Fund could help increase investment in technical and vocational education. Mr Saforo, whose organisation supports young people through education, training and skills development, said additional sources of funding would be needed to complement government efforts and improve training activities in TVET institutions. He explained that YOTA and the YES Pact were supporting efforts to strengthen workplace experience learning by advocating increased funding and encouraging industries to accept young people for practical training. According to him, workplace experience learning provides trainees with the opportunity to apply classroom knowledge in real working environments while helping industries develop the skilled workforce they need. He stressed that better coordination among stakeholders, including government agencies, training institutions, employers and development partners, was necessary to ensure that investments in TVET produced meaningful results. Mr Saforo said the proposed TVET Fund could provide an important source of support, but emphasised that other institutions and private-sector organisations should also contribute to financing skills development. He urged employers to participate actively in training young people, noting that industries would benefit from a steady supply of workers equipped with the practical competencies required for their operations. Mr Opare Addo said financing reforms must go hand in hand with efforts to change public perceptions of technical and vocational education. He announced plans for a campaign dubbed the “First Choice Agenda,” aimed at encouraging parents to consider TVET as a preferred pathway for their children rather than an alternative for those who do not gain admission to traditional academic programmes. He said the negative perception surrounding TVET had prevented many young people from exploring career opportunities in technical fields, despite the growing importance of practical skills to industrial development. The Minister maintained that TVET could lead to decent employment, entrepreneurship, innovation and rewarding careers if institutions were adequately equipped and training programmes aligned with industry requirements. However, he acknowledged that inadequate equipment and other essential training resources in some institutions continued to discourage parents from choosing technical and vocational education for their children. He therefore called for increased investment in modern equipment, consumables and practical training facilities to improve the quality of instruction and make TVET institutions more competitive. Mr Opare Addo also stressed the need for employers to collaborate with educators in identifying the skills required by industry and ensuring that training programmes reflected those needs. He cited Germany and Switzerland as examples of countries where employer participation, practical experience and recognised qualifications had helped establish vocational education as a pathway to successful careers. The Minister said his ministry was implementing a National Apprenticeship Programme through the National Youth Authority, engaging master craftspersons to provide practical training for young people. Under the programme, participating master craftspersons are required to possess relevant certification, while apprentices receive monthly stipends to support them during their training. He explained that the stipends were intended to help trainees remain in their programmes and devote sufficient time to mastering their chosen trades. Mr Opare Addo also highlighted the importance of supporting young people to establish their own businesses after completing their training. Through the National Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programme, he said, the ministry was supporting graduates interested in entrepreneurship with access to start-up capital and mentorship. He described the approach as a transition from apprenticeship to entrepreneurship, allowing trained young people to choose between wage employment and establishing their own businesses.   Mr Opare Addo called for a stronger system to track the outcomes of investments in technical and vocational education, insisting that success should not be measured by the number of certificates awarded alone. He said stakeholders must establish whether graduates secure jobs, how much they earn, whether businesses they establish survive and whether employers are satisfied with the quality of graduates produced by training institutions. He maintained that reliable information on graduate employment and business performance would help government and development partners determine whether investments in TVET were producing the desired results. He further urged development partners to support programmes that connect training directly to employment, warning against fragmented funding arrangements that fail to provide a complete pathway from training to work. Mr Saforo, meanwhile, urged parents to reconsider the perception that TVET offered limited career prospects, arguing that technical skills could provide opportunities for both wage employment and self-employment. He noted that even graduates of traditional academic programmes could acquire technical and vocational skills to broaden their career options and develop additional sources of income. Both speakers stressed the importance of strengthening partnerships among government, industry, training institutions and development partners to improve the quality and relevance of technical and vocational education. Mr Opare Addo said sustainable financing, stronger industry participation and a change in public attitudes would be critical to making TVET a preferred choice for young people and supporting Ghana’s industrial and economic transformation.

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