The Youth Employment and Skills (YES) Chapter of the Pan-African Coalition for Transformation (YEARS PACT) has called on Ghanaians, particularly parents and young people, to change their perception of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), describing skills development as one of the surest pathways out of poverty.
The YEARS PACT Coordinator at the Youth Opportunity and Transformation in Africa (YOTA), Mr. Eric Saforo, said TVET should no longer be viewed as an option reserved for young people who could not succeed in traditional academic education.
According to him, the growing demand for practical skills, technology and entrepreneurship has made TVET increasingly important to Ghana’s economic development and the future of young people.
He said technical and vocational training equipped young people with practical skills that could enable them to establish their own businesses, secure decent employment and improve their livelihoods.
Mr. Saforo therefore urged parents to abandon the mindset that academic education was the only respectable route to success and instead encourage their children to consider TVET as a valuable and potentially rewarding career pathway.
He stressed that the inability of a young person to excel in the traditional academic system should not be interpreted as failure, arguing that many young people possessed talents and abilities that could flourish better through practical and technical training.
“TVET is not for people who could not make it in education,” he said, urging society to recognise skills development as an essential component of education and national development.
He said YEARS PACT was committed to supporting the Ghana TVET Service and the Ministry of Education to strengthen skills development and employment opportunities for young people.
The organisation, he explained, worked with government by identifying gaps in policy implementation and supporting efforts to address them through partnership and constructive advocacy.
Mr. Saforo said YEARS PACT brought together policymakers, regulators, private-sector representatives, civil society organisations and youth-focused groups to contribute their expertise and resources towards effective implementation of skills-development policies.
He said the organisation was particularly interested in the Ghana TVET Service’s Workplace Experience Learning strategy, which provides young people with opportunities to gain practical experience in industry.
Such exposure, he noted, could help trainees acquire the competencies required to secure wage employment or establish sustainable businesses of their own.
He also identified job fairs as an important avenue for connecting trained young people with employers and helping them transition from training into employment.
Mr. Saforo further called for greater attention to young people with disabilities, saying they must not be excluded from opportunities in technical and vocational education.
He said YEARS PACT was working with the Ministry of Education and the Ghana TVET Service to promote learning environments that adequately accommodated students with special educational needs.
He advocated the retrofitting of classrooms and other educational facilities with appropriate infrastructure to make them accessible to students with visual, mobility and other forms of disabilities.
His comments come as the Ghana TVET Service intensifies efforts to reposition TVET as a major driver of national development, with a focus on skills development, digitalisation, inclusion and stronger collaboration with industry and the informal sector.
The Acting Deputy Director and Head of Corporate Affairs at the Ghana TVET Service, Madam Hephzibah Ama, said the upcoming National TVET Week would provide an important platform for stakeholders, learners, parents, industry players and the general public to engage on the future of TVET.
She said the programme would also showcase innovations and opportunities emerging within the sector while helping to motivate learners and change public perceptions about technical and vocational education.
Madam Ama stressed that TVET was not limited to formal institutions, explaining that the Ghana TVET Service was also working closely with artisans, trade associations and other operators within the informal sector.
She said the Service had a dedicated division responsible for providing training and retraining to informal-sector operators based on government-approved standards.
According to her, informal-sector practitioners also contribute to curriculum development, while the Service continues to strengthen collaboration between formal TVET institutions and informal training providers.
She disclosed that the Service was preparing to undertake public sensitisation and registration of public and private TVET institutions, including informal training providers, across the country.
She urged informal-sector operators unfamiliar with the registration process or standards governing TVET delivery to contact the Ghana TVET Service for guidance.
Madam Ama also challenged the perception that TVET was restricted to traditional trades such as fashion, carpentry and woodwork.
She said modern TVET was increasingly embracing digitalisation, artificial intelligence, robotics and other emerging technologies that were shaping the future of work.
She cited innovations such as solar-powered incubators and traffic-light systems being developed by learners at some TVET institutions as evidence of the practical and technological capabilities being nurtured within the sector.
She said the public must therefore understand that modern TVET goes far beyond traditional craftsmanship and offers opportunities in emerging areas of technology and innovation.
“TVET Is Not for Dropouts”
Madam Ama strongly rejected the long-standing notion that TVET was designed for students who could not succeed in traditional academic education.
“TVET is not an area for the dropouts,” she stressed, noting that intelligent, talented and ambitious young people were increasingly choosing technical and vocational education.
She said the National TVET Week would help showcase the abilities, creativity and innovations of TVET learners while encouraging the public to take a fresh look at the sector.
She called on parents and society to change their perception and begin to regard TVET as a first-choice pathway to education, employment, entrepreneurship and national development, rather than a second option for those who could not make it academically.
With Ghana facing growing pressure to create jobs and sustainable livelihoods for its youthful population, Mr. Saforo maintained that the country could not afford to underestimate the power of practical skills.
He said expanding access to quality TVET, linking training to industry and changing societal attitudes towards vocational education could give thousands of young people the tools to earn decent incomes and break the cycle of poverty
