The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare, has warned that financing deficits in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) will continue to weaken the quality of the manpower Ghana trains for industry unless they are closed.
Mr. Asare said Ghana spends about three times less on TVET than several peers despite high youth unemployment, and that per-learner funding falls far short of what training costs.
Mr. Asare said Ghana spends three times less on TVET than Niger, Rwanda and Côte d’Ivoire, and almost three times less than Ethiopia, despite very high youth unemployment. He argued that the low and inconsistent spending is affecting how TVET is delivered in schools.
To make the point, he compared Ghana’s financing with that of countries known for global best practice, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark and Norway. Ghana’s TVET system is modelled significantly on those of Germany and Austria, which blend workplace experience with school-based learning.
In those countries, he said, government spends more on a TVET learner than on a pupil in general secondary education. Germany spends 25 per cent more on every TVET learner, Switzerland 28 per cent more, and best practice reaches up to 30 per cent.
Ministry of Education data show that Ghana spends only about 11 per cent more on a TVET learner than on a general secondary pupil.
Mr. Asare traced part of the problem to how free TVET was introduced. Free senior high school had been running since 2017, and in 2020 government added about GH¢100 to the budget and declared TVET free. In effect, he said, free TVET was the free senior high school budget plus an amount for practical work.
A Gap of Thousands of Cedis
“We didn’t cost TVET from the basics, neither the known cost of competency-based training nor the earlier fee-paying costing was applied.
Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare
Eduwatch worked with the TVET Service on a study that engaged students, instructors and regional managers to establish how much is needed to train a learner for one academic year.
Catering and welding emerged as the most expensive trades, at GH¢9,000 a learner each year. Free TVET provides GH¢413, leaving a gap of more than GH¢8,500.
Mid-range trades such as plumbing, electricals, carpentry, fashion, leather work and refrigeration need about GH¢6,000. The least expensive, including painting, graphic design, and building and construction, need about GH¢4,000. Government’s allocation, however, is the same GH¢413 whichever trade a learner pursues.
“If we don’t close this financing gap, it will be the reason why someone will finish learning electricals and will not be able to fix a socket well. It is not the instructor. It is the resources that were not available.”
Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare
Practical Training Suffers
Mr. Asare said the gap directly affects the quality of training. Instead of 20 practical sessions in an academic year, some learners get only six, because the money to buy consumables is not there.
The curriculum requires up to 70 per cent practical training and 30 per cent theory. Without funding for practical work, he said, learners will leave school with weaker skills even after three years.
He cited figures from the Commission for TVET showing that 65 per cent of TVET graduates find jobs in their first year, rising by 12 per cent by the second year. Getting a job, he said, is different from remaining in it, and the quality of skills determines which of the two a graduate achieves.
“Deficit in financing or financing cuts will continue to impact the quality of manpower we train if we do not address them.”
Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare
Teachers and Class Sizes
Declining financing, Mr. Asare said, will also continue to affect the availability of qualified teachers. Some TVET schools in the Central Region have as many as 120 learners in a class.
Under competency-based training standards, a practical session should not exceed 25 learners. An instructor with 120 learners would therefore have to run about five sessions to meet the standard, yet the money for consumables is not available to do so.
He said the teacher deficit at the TVET Service is about 15,000 and still rising, which means more money is needed.
Attention now turns to whether government will cost TVET from the basics and close the gap between the GH¢413 now provided and the thousands of cedis each trade requires
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