An Associate Professor at the Department of Entomology of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Professor Jakpasu Victor Kofi Afun, who gave the advice, said the nation was adopting the technical university initiative to produce capable hands to feed industries and factories, stressing that students who passed through technical education were needed more in the job market.

The professor, who is a former rector of the Ho Polytechnic, said students should not feel intimidated with technical education because, with it, they could never be stranded in the job market, since they had an added advantage over their counterparts in other sectors.

He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the Tapaman Senior High Technical School at Tapa Amanfrom on the theme: “ The modern trend of education, the role of the community in the attainment of sustainable quality education.”

PPP for school development

Prof. Afun said the school, established in a rural setting, should be mindful of opportunities available for development, adding that it must pursue a Private Public Partnership (PPP) agenda to attract investment into the school to augment government and conventional stakeholders’ roles to accelerate the development of the school.

The school was rejuvenated with funds from the compensation paid to the Tapa Traditional Council for submerged lands after the construction of the Akosombo Dam, and was absorbed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) three years ago.

It was established in 1994 through a private initiative but collapsed later when the Tapamanhene, Okoforobour Baffour Kwame Asante II, and his council of elders decided to use part of the compensation funds to restart the school for the benefit of the youth of Tapa.

The Headmaster of the school, Mr Goerge Tawiah-Mankpanke, said the school had benefited from some government projects in addition to the allocation of a school bus, but said it lacked computers for Information and Communications Technology (ICT) lessons and a machine shop for the Technical Department and called for assistance to rescue it from the present predicament.

Good leadership example

The Volta Regional Director of the GES, Mr Alexander Mawusi Buadi, commended the Paramount Chief and elders for showing good leadership in reviving the school, and advised that they should set short, medium and long-term goals to guide the management of the school to enable it to achieve excellence on a consistent basis.

He reminded them that as a people they would be left behind in the 21st century if they did not invest in quality education for their children and added that it was a shared responsibility among identified stakeholders to undertake such a holistic venture.

Child labour

In an address read on his behalf, the Board Chairman, Nana Asiedu Ansah I, said the school would help improve on the human resource base of the area and reduce child labour on the Volta Lake as well as the urge for ‘quick money’ attitudes that were associated with the buoyant marketing centres in the area.

Okoforobour Asante II, who chaired the function, said the school was a dream come true in fulfilment of what the forebears had yearned for.