REPOSITION TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION...For accelerated industrial growth (PAGE 17)

THE Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education (NTCE), Mr Paul Effah, has observed that if Ghana is to accelerate its industrial growth and development, then repositioning of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) must be pursued vigorously.
According to him, evidence from the more industrialised countries is that countries that have achieved industrial growth and development have invested significantly in TVET.
“The role of TVET must first and foremost be to provide the technical human capital required to sustain industrial development,” he added.
Mr Effah was speaking at the second Wa Polytechnic Annual Research Conference (Wa PARC) in Wa.
He advised that a lot of attention should be given to business-oriented institutions such as technical institutes and polytechnics in order to build their capacity to train the required human capital for national and industrial development.
The executive secretary stressed the need for stakeholders, industry and the government, among others, to deal with and change the mindset and culture of people towards TVET.
“Up-skilling Ghana through Technical Vocational Education and Training to facilitate industrial development is no longer an option but one of the critical choices that Ghana as a country must make,” he pointed out.
Touching on the contribution of TVET to industrial development, Mr Effah said emphasis must be placed on collaborative research, knowledge transfer programmes, research and development, among others.
He stated that a good TVET system would also equip the workforce with the skills relevant to the needs of industry.
He proposed that the government should provide the regulatory framework that would facilitate industry-institutional partnership through which industry benefits from the knowledge and skills generated from the institutions.
For his part, the Rector of the Wa Polytechnic, Professor Sampson Agbodzo, said the current trends of employment in the tertiary institutions did not guarantee job for life unless one was seen to be contributing to knowledge through research and innovation.
He said it was in recognition of this that the government now paid book and research allowances to teaching staff.
“I am, therefore, using this platform to appeal to the teaching staff of Wa Polytechnic to be up and doing, regarding research and innovation, if they intend keeping their jobs in the future,” he advised.