Cape Coast, Jan. 23,- Government
has expressed its intent to adopt the German model of Technical, Vocational
Education Training (TVET) as part of an integrated policy of enriching
technical education in the country.
The move is to integrate
technical education with modern industrial demands as part of the national
industrialisation policy to create employment and stimulate economic growth.
Mrs Barbara Asher Ayisi, Deputy
Minister of Education in-charge of Basic Education has said.
The initiative, according to her
was critical to enable technical institutions to produce the needed quality
manpower for the country.
Mrs Ayisi said this at the launch
of a Partnership for Applied Sciences Project (PASS) by the Cape Coast
Technical University (CCTU) and the Kumasi Technical University (KTU) in Cape
Coast on Monday.
It is being carried out in
partnership with three universities of applied sciences in Germany, including
Hochshule Bonn Rhein-Sieg, TH Koln University of Applied Sciences and the
International Hochshule Bad Honnef-Bonn.
The partnership which involved
coaching, mentoring and exchanged programmes formed part of a broader programme
to convert the Polytechnics into full-fledged technical universities.
It was on the theme
"Strengthening quality project-based teaching, promoting
internationalisation and broadening networks - A German-Ghanaian university
project".
According to Mrs Ayisi, the
German TVET model was one of the best in the World and that adopting it would
consolidate the core mandate of Vocational and Technical institutions of
providing quality higher technical and vocational education in the country.
The Deputy Minister who doubles
as the Member of Parliament for Cape Coast North entreated the collaborating
institutions to effectively embrace the Competence-Based Training (CBT) model
being rolled out to all TVET institutions because it was industry-led, demand
driven and outcome-based.
"Deeper collaboration with
industry to use TVET institutions as training centers for the upgrading and
re-training of industry workers is a critical avenue for promoting TVET and has
the benefit of making industries value TVET institutions” she said
Mrs Ayisi said as part of efforts
to transform the country's TVET institutions to meet the needs of industries,
the government had decided to re-align all aspects of TVET provision under the
Ministry of Education.
That, according to her, was
geared towards strengthening, improving and revitalizing the skills development
sector in the country to contribute meaningfully to industrial development and
economic growth through the development of employable skills.
She said government’s decision
was based on the fact that TVET was critical to the building a skilled
workforce for rapid agricultural, industrial and economic transformation.
She noted that the TVET landscape
in the country was very fragmented with negative implications, which affected
system governance, development and coordination of TVET for efficiency, quality
and relevance.
Processor Jurgen Bode, the Vice
President of International Affairs, Hochchule Bonn-Rhein Sieg University
charged Technical Universities to stick to the core mandate for which they were
established.
He also urged the public tertiary
institutions to focus on their unique training programmes to produce graduates
for specific sectors for the economy.
GNA
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