The Government is sourcing a 4.7 million dollar World Bank loan to support engineering skills development relevant to the emerging oil and gas industry, Mr Alex Tettey Enyo, Education Minister, has said.
Two out of the three chosen institutions to benefit from this package are the Takoradi and Kikam Technical Institutes.
Mr Tettey-Enyo who said this in a speech read for him at the 26th conference of the Association of Principals of Technical Institutions (APTI) in Kumasi, did not, however, name the last remaining institution.
He said in preparation for the skills training, a team of 10 senior staff of beneficiary institutions through support of the Tullow Limited had been sent to the United Kingdom on a study tour to get firsthand experience on the oil and gas skills training.
Six of them were picked from Takoradi and Kikam Technical Institutes.
Mr Tetteh-Enyo underlined the critical importance of Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) to the nation's progress and said it would be given every needed attention.
The Mills Administration would make sure that the TVET sector receives its fair share of the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund).
The sector has been allocated an amount of 11.5 million GH Cedis to ensure skill-based industrial growth and development.
Additionally, these institutions would also benefit from 20 million GH Cedis allocated to the various Regional Coordinating Councils to complete projects left at various levels of construction, dotted throughout the country.
He said the government was determined to increase access to TVET and said in line with this, 11 more private formal technical and vocational institutes had been absorbed into the main public education system.
The Education Minister said it was important they linked their training to the needs of the labour market if they were to be "relevant and demand-driven rather than supply-driven and a stand-alone activity."
Nana Kobina Boafo, President of APTI, expressed concern about the negative attitude of some parents towards technical and vocational education and said this must change.
He also complained about the lack of text books, use of obsolete machines and equipment, as well as the unwillingness of some industrial establishments to accept their students for internship.