By Victoria Asante GNA
Accra, Nov. 27, GNA – The Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) in partnership with the British Council has held a draft Apprenticeship Policy validation workshop to regulate and structure apprenticeship skills across all sectors in the country.
The workshop validation seeks to address and promote apprenticeship related issues with relevant stakeholder consultation engagement and deliberate on the possible factors that can help in structuring apprenticeship in all sectors.
Madam Gifty Twum Ampofo, Deputy Minister for Education in charge of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET), said the world is moving toward vocational and educational training and Ghana cannot afford to be left behind with the current trend.
She said Ghana is working together with other partners to ensure there is a system that is collaborative to ensure that the formal and complementary sector will all have the same goal irrespective of where a product come from.
Madam Twum Ampofo said government would continue to invest in the TVET and urged the private sector to register with COTVET in order to be accredited and benefit from the programme.
“As we develop the policy let’s see how we can involve all inclusive terminologies and attractive words for apprenticeship so that the Ghanaian mentality towards apprenticeship will change to inclusiveness”, she said.
She appealed with owners of various industries to open their doors to contribute to the system with their facilities and help young people acquire the necessary skills to help solve unemployment through apprenticeship.
Mr Theophilus Zogblah, Coordinator at COTVET, in charge of Operational Standard, said apprenticeship which is a medium of training for many is being taken for granted because there are no policies governing it, hence the effort to ensure that apprenticeship is standardized and structured across all sectors.
We would continue with the effort to come out with principles to regulate and guide apprenticeship across all sectors in the country, he said.
Dr Charles Amoatey, a consultant for the project, said his mandate is to help COTVET to develop a national policy on apprenticeship that is aimed at harmonizing apprenticeship and also ensure that apprenticeship becomes part of the educational system.
“Employers complain that graduates lack the skills required for the labour market so we want to have a national policy where the student would acquire the requisite skills whiles in school” he said.
Dr Amoatey said the policy has five components which include the establishment of a legal and national context for the policy; and training providers, institutions and policy makers who are engaged in vocational education training.
The policy will also provide broad guidelines on the role of the various institutions in the implementation of the national policy.
Mrs Gladys Quashie, National Apprentice Expect (NAE), said the policy must be implemented to regulate and streamline issues regarding apprenticeship so that people who go into apprenticeship would receive the requisite skills and knowledge.
COTVET is a national body established by an Act of Parliament to co-ordinate and oversee all aspects of technical and vocational education and training in the country.
It aims at formulating policies for skills developments across the broad spectrum of pre-tertiary and tertiary education, formal, informal and non-formal sectors.
GNA
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