Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has disclosed that the country is witnessing a movement from a world of certificates to one of skills.
According to him, the Ghana beyond aid agenda by government can only be possible when the youth are equipped with competitive skills and introduced to various skills.
Speaking at the launch of the Ghana TVET service on December 14, 2021, under the theme: ‘Stirring Ghana’s industrialization drive through skills acquisition for national development’, he revealed that due to the shift to skills, President Akufo-Addo and government have made efforts to engage both human capital and technology as a way of transformation.
“This is a historic occasion and it’s a landmark event. We’ve all known in economics that if you look at the empirical evidence about what makes countries grow and develop, we know that it is not gold, it is not diamonds or oil or cocoa for that matter. It’s not natural resources but the evidence is very clear that it is human capital [and] human resources that drives growth and technology because the combination of human capital and technology produces these increasing returns to investments in any economy that drives growth… Today in the world, we are seeing a movement away from a world of certificates to a world of skills. Your certificates only matter fundamentally in this new world if they allow you to perform certain skills…”
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
TVET’s fundamental role in growth of the economy
Providing a backdrop to the establishment of the TVET Service, the Vice President revealed that prior to January 2017, government was confronted with challenges such as the “poor perception of TVET”, multiplicity of standards, testing and certification system and an informal TVET system. This, he explained, had been neglected and detached from the formal sector which affected the quality of TVET delivery.
He expressed that the situation rendered it difficult for the sector to become the “key catalyst” that could spur industrialization and decent job creation for the citizens of the country. Dr Bawumia indicated that government is tackling many of these issues.
“This government from 2017 as part of the President’s plan to transform the technical and vocational education and training in the country has been streamlining TVET to ensure that the sector becomes a central force of our national development. One of the many initiatives to ensure this, is the establishment of the Ghana TVET Service”.
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
To resolve the challenges, Dr Bawumia disclosed that government formed a 15-member technical committee in 2017 with membership from various ministries and agencies to establish the Ghana TVET Service. Following extensive work and national stakeholder engagement, he indicated that the committee presented a draft bill to parliament for approval in 2019.
Subsequently, the Vice President noted that the draft was later sent to parliament and the law was passed and assented to by President Akufo-Addo on 29th December, 2020, as a “pre-tertiary Act, 2020, Act 104 (9)”.
“The essence of Act 104 (9) is to ensure that all TVET providing institutions under the nineteen ministries are realigned to the Ghana TVET Service. Hitherto, these TVET institutions were under umbrella bodies such as Ghana Education Service…”
Dr Mahamudu Bawumia
Dr Bawumia intimated that with the world gradually shifting its demand for artisans and trained personnel, the onus lies on government to provide high school students with the necessary vocational and technical skills for the socio-economic transformation of Ghana’s economy. The Vice President commended the roles played by President Akufo-Addo, senior advisor to the President, Yaw Osafo Maafo, the Education minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum and others in ensuring the establishment of the TVET service.
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