The policy has also led to an increase in the number of TVET schools from 47 to 200, accompanied by improved infrastructure and equipment.

Only 14, 000 students sat for the TVET examination in 2017 but that number increased to 24, 000 in 2021.

Dr Bawumia also handed over 37 buses, 21 double cabin pickups, two tractors, three Toyota Fortuners and a Toyota V8 Land Cruiser to the service.

The Vice-President was speaking at the inauguration of the TVET Service Headquarters and Applied Technology Institute at East Legon in Accra yesterday [June 7, 2022].

The $131.6 million projects comprise classroom blocks, ICT centres, administration blocks, workshops, male and female dormitories and equipment, making it one of the biggest TVET centres in the country.

Dr Bawumia said the applied technology institution concept was implemented by the government to provide rigorous academic core and industry-led programmes to support the socio-economic transformation of the country.

He said as part of the government’s effort, it signed a contract with Planet One Group, a construction entity for the upgrading and modernisation of vocational schools, including the establishment of a TVET Commission.

Dr Bawumia said the government’s decision to make TVET education free was yielding results, and urged the people to embrace TVET for job creation and entrepreneurial development.

Initiatives

“Some of the interventions made in the TVET sector include the upgrading and modernisation of all erstwhile 34 National Vocational Training Institutes (NVTIs) and head offices, including 10 regional offices and five apprenticeship offices across the country within the last six years,” the Vice-President said

He also mentioned an Opportunities Industrialisation Centre in Accra which comprises the construction and rehabilitation and equipping of laboratories, workshops, additional classrooms, hostels and administrative blocks, and the establishment of two new foundries and machining centres at the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Accra and another one at the Kwame Nkrumah Unversity of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi.

"Also, we have completed and rehabilitated 10 technical universities and 13 technical institutes which include the construction of new workshops and laboratories, supply and installation of equipment fit for disciplines in electrical and electronics engineering, welding technology, automotive maintenance and civil and mechanical engineering.

“There is also the construction of five new district TVET centres of excellence which are ongoing,” Dr Bawumia added.

Employment opportunities

The Director-General of the Ghana TVET Service, Mawusi Nudekor Awity, said the training gave opportunities to the youth to gain employment.

She said the projects had revived hope and brought smiles to many homes and expressed gratitude to the government for making TVET enticing and the preferred option of education in the country.

Mrs Awity further said the service was in the process of implementing start-ups for TVET graduates in collaboration with donor agencies, international NGOs and the government.

That, she explained, was aimed at fashioning out a support policy to assist graduates to start their own businesses.

The D-G added that her outfit was planning to introduce an e-learning platform for the study of TVET, and, therefore, advised the youth to take advantage of the programmes and opportunities offered by the service to become self-reliant.