Asantehene calls for more support for vocational and technical education

Otumfuo Osei Tutu II, the Asantehene, has appealed for more support for vocational and technical institutions.

He said everything should be done to equip and upgrade their facilities including laboratories and workshops to enable them to deliver quality training to the youth in employable skills.

The situation where they were forced to rely on obsolete equipment together with the lack of teaching aids and limited industrial attachment opportunity for their students was not the best, the Asantehene said.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said it would not be out of place for corporate bodies to provide scholarships and other incentives to motivate both teachers and students in those institutions.

The Asantehene said these in a speech read for him at the ninth graduation ceremony held by the Ramseyer Vocational and Technical Institute at Chirapatre in Kumasi.

“Enhancing quality training in vocational technical education as an essential tool for accelerated development”, was the theme.

A total of 86 students graduated after a three-year training in catering, fashion design, electrical installation, block-laying and concreting.

The Institute, established in 1976 by the Presbyterian Church, has since trained about 8,000 people.

Otumfuo Osei Tutu said it was time premium was placed on technical and vocational education given its critical role in national development.

He expressed disquiet about the sector's continued seeming neglect and challenges because of public misconception.

He invited all stakeholders to unite in their effort to whip up enthusiasm in technical and vocational education.

The Reverend Samuel Asamoah, Principal of the Institute, spoke of plans to introduce auto-mechanics and craftsmanship into their training programmes, beginning from the next academic year.**