A complete overhaul of Ghana’s educational system, specifically, technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is the key fundamental policy to address the teeming youth unemployment rate in the country, Dr. Opare Djan Nana, Director of Monitoring and Evaluation of the National Development Planning Commission (NDPC) has said.
According to him, an overall TVET that promotes skills development as the professional foundation of education in Ghana would go a long way to tackling youth employment challenges in the country.
Dr. Opare Djan made these comments in an interview with EXPRESSNEWSGHANA, on the sideline of a two-day Data Accountability Project (DAP) workshop for members of the Poverty Reduction Strategy Committee of Parliament in Accra on Saturday, November 19, 2022.
The Workshop is being organized by the African Center for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA) in partnership with Ghana Statistical Services (GSS), INASP and the Parliament of Ghana.
Speaking on the Commission’s challenges with policy implementation, especially the issue of the youth unemployment rate in the country, Dr. Opare Djan said Ghana’s educational intervention projects through technical and vocational training in the past have been ill-programmed and lacked the political will for prosecution.
To remedy the situation, he said the NDPC is undertaking structural reforms to introduce what he termed, the “Youth Policy Index” to help the country tailor the development of its human resources towards technical and vocational education.
He believed Ghana has the vast experience of technocrats that would help the nation harness its human resources build but political interests are affecting the opportunities that abound in the nation.
The NDPC officer stressed the need for economic policies to address the demand side of TVET skills, saying, “TVET by itself does not automatically result in the provision of jobs. Rather, it requires an economic policy environment that promotes the creation of enterprises and stimulation of the skill development profession.”
In his view, government upon government always focuses on their individual political parties’ policies without taking advantage of the key pragmatic policies that the NDPC has developed over the years, “ emphasizing for the nation to improve in terms of development, the political parties should rather seek advice from the Commission and use same to implement their manifesto or policies.”
He noted that, for politicians to commit themselves to continue with projects and programmes started by their predecessors, the citizens should reorient their minds and attitudes and demand accountability from duty-bearers to ensure development projects are not abandoned soon after the change of government.
Dr. Djan reiterated the need for the German World TVET system to be highly considered in the country as a way to enable it to fully implement competency-based training, nothing that “technological changes provide an opportunity for future jobs but only if the youth have the right skills.”
He said the NDPC is a national institution devoid of political influence and that its doors are wide-opened with its policies to help bridge the widening gap between the requirement of the job market and the competencies developed in the educational system.
He, however, urged government and policy implementations to invest in vocational, and technical skills education and training for it is a catalyst of change, saying, “ Let me emphasise that TVET education, is the best way if we want to tackle the unemployment problem in this country.”
Source: expressnewsghana.com
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