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Career guidance and counselling have been identified as critical interventions needed to improve learner enrolment, retention, completion and transition into employment.
This is particularly in agriculture and other productive sectors as the country intensifies efforts to make technical vocational education and training (TVET) more inclusive and responsive to labour market demands.
At a workshop on “Enhancing Gender-Responsive and Inclusive Career Guidance: Empowering Pathways into Agriculture TVET” under the Better Education for Africa’s Rise (BEAR III) Project, stakeholders stressed that effective guidance systems would equip learners with the information and support required to make informed career choices, while addressing barriers faced by girls, persons with disabilities and other marginalised groups.
The workshop, organised in collaboration between UNESCO and the Ghana TVET Service with funding support from the Government of the Republic of Korea, forms part of ongoing efforts to strengthen career guidance and counselling within selected TVET institutions and pilot approaches for national implementation.
The initiative also seeks to build the capacity of counsellors, gender officers, institutional leaders and other TVET personnel, while supporting the development of more gender-responsive and inclusive guidance systems that align with the country’s TVET transformation agenda.
The workshop drew people from the Ghana TVET Service, partner institutions, facilitators and other stakeholders to deliberate on strengthening career guidance services and enhancing pathways into agriculture TVET.
Delivering a speech on behalf of the Director-General of the Ghana TVET Service, Dr Eric Kofi Adzroe, the Ashanti Regional Director of the Ghana TVET Service, Addo Gyamfi, described career guidance as central to learner success, retention, progression and smooth transition into employment or further training.
He said many young people entered training with limited knowledge of available career pathways, particularly in emerging sectors such as agriculture, agribusiness and the green economy.
Dr Adzroe said the challenge was even greater for girls, learners with disabilities and other marginalised groups who continued to face barriers relating to information, access and social expectations.
He said the workshop sought to strengthen guidance and counselling systems to make them more gender-responsive, inclusive and relevant to labour market realities.
In a speech read on behalf of the Head of Office and UNESCO Representative to Ghana, Edmond Moukala, by the National Project Officer for the Better Education for Africa’s Rise (BEAR III) Project, Michael Boateng, UNESCO reaffirmed its commitment to supporting Ghana in strengthening career guidance and counselling within the TVET sector.
He commended the Ghana TVET Service for its continued partnership and commitment to improving technical and vocational education and training in the country.
Mr Moukala described the workshop as an important milestone in efforts to improve the quality, relevance and inclusiveness of TVET, while ensuring that learners acquired not only technical skills but also the capacity to make informed career decisions
