THE Director-General of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, has charged stakeholders in the TVET sector to be guided by the National Apprenticeship Policy (NAP) as they carry out their work.
That, he said, would enable the government to realise its objective of transforming the sector.
“It is only by operationalising this policy that we can all support the government’s industrialisation agenda and prepare our youth for jobs requiring skills,” Dr Asamoah said at a sensitisation programme on the policy in Accra yesterday.
The policy aims at providing an integrated and standardised approach in undertaking apprenticeship at all levels and sectors in the country.
It also provides a framework for the harmonisation of apprenticeship practice in both the formal and the informal sectors.
Developed by the CTVET, with inputs from various stakeholders, the policy also provides mechanisms and guidelines for the effective coordination and implementation of good practices in apprenticeship training and a well-coordinated, inter-sectoral national apprenticeship system.
Dr Asamoah said the policy would improve productivity and the competitiveness of the country’s skilled workforce for economic transformation.
He said it was aligned with the wider policy framework of the Education Sector Plan 2018-2030 and the Strategic Plan for TVET Transformation 2018-2022 that supports competency-based skills development.
“Ghana needs a skilled and competent workforce, such as artisans and technicians, to fill the skills gaps in the various sectors of the economy.
This is one of the reasons CTVET is mandated to develop this policy and coordinate activities in the sector,” he added.
The Director-General further said strategies to deal with youth unemployment had been a significant part of the agenda of the current and previous governments to reduce poverty in the country.
“Over the years, Ghana has implemented many interventions targeted at the youth to curb the rising spate of unemployment, but with undesirable results.
“Youth unemployment in the country stood at 13.9 per cent as of the second quarter of 2022 (Ghana Statistical Service),” he said.
According to him, the prevailing situation was due to the lack of employable skills, which he said was perpetuating the vicious cycle of poverty and increase in social vices.
“Apprenticeship as a tool in the development of the capacity of the youth for socio-economic development has been heavily under-utilised, even though legal and regulatory frameworks exist to support its practice,” Dr Asamoah added.
SOURCE: Graphiconline
