Link technical and vocational education training to the job market- Prof Agyepong.

THE Principal of the Methodist University College, Ghana (MUCG), Rev. Prof. S.K Agyepong, has stressed the need to link technical and vocational education training (TVET) to the job market in order to enhance the relevance of such training to the socio-economic development.
He said as employment opportunities in the formal sector shrank, the acquisition of business management and entrepreneurial skills for self-employment would become a major imperative in the design of vocational training programmes.
Addressing the 10th anniversary and third graduation ceremony of New Century Career Training Institute at Dansoman in Accra at the weekend on the theme, “TVET, the driving force for national development”, Mr Agyepong said the government should pay more attention to TVET to guarantee the nation with the needed economic growth and development.
He said technical and vocational education training programmes in Africa should help develop indigenous skills associated with the manufacture of traditional artefacts and crafts and also promote the culture of life-long learning.
Prof. Agyepong said in its Plan of Action for the second decade of education (2006-2015), the African Union (AU) recognised the importance of technical and vocational education and training as a means of empowering individuals to take control of their lives, and therefore, recommended the integration of vocational training into the general education system.
He said the union also recognised the fact that vast numbers of young people were outside the formal school system and consequently recommended the integration of non-formal learning methodologies and literacy programmes into national TVET programmes.
Prof Agyepong said before the new educational reform in Ghana in 2007, TVET provided undulating years of training, was underdeveloped and wrongly perceived, but indicated that the framework of training under the TVET in the new educational reform sought to provide employable skills through formal and informal apprenticeship training.
He said the awareness among policy makers in many African countries of the role TVET could play in national development had increased the importance the Government of Ghana attached to TVET.
He said TVET delivery systems were well placed to train the skilled and entrepreneurial workforce needed to create wealth and help the country come out of poverty, adding that the informal sector absorbed more than 90 per cent of all those who acquired skills training in the country.
He said the incorporation of basic vocational skills into the junior high school curriculum was an attempt to expose young people to pre-employment skills.
Prof. Agyepong urged industries within the TVET framework to collaborate in setting standards, offering training on-the-job and providing financial assistance to trainees.
He said there would be economic stability and the society would enjoy rapid and stable environmental development and experience consistent development and economic boom, when TVET framework became fully operational.
The Manager of the institute, Mrs Lydia Duvor, said the school had turned out 2000 trainees since its inception in 2001, with an employment rate of 69 per cent, with 17 per cent doing further studies and 14 per cent currently being unemployed.
She said the school had received support from the Chinese Government and mission in Ghana.
Mrs Duvor  appealed to all parents to monitor the activities of their children both in school and out of  home and gave the assurance that the school would continue to instil a high sense of discipline in students.
Special awards were presented to 17 graduates in the fields of electricals, electronics, dressmaking, refrigeration and air-conditioning, leather works, carpentry and joinery, computer hardware, plumbing, and draughtsmanship.