GRATIS holds graduation for textile trainees

The 29th graduation ceremony for 59 trainees of GRATIS/Regional Technology Training Centre (RTTC) textile training and beneficiaries of the Ministry of Manpower Development, Employment Skills Training and Employment placement (STEP) programmes was held on Friday at Tema.

Under the STEP programme, 18 trainees who passed out after three months training were sponsored by government at the total cost of 9.9 million cedis of a subsidised rate at GRATIS Foundation, while 41 others who had to pay for their own training at a total cost of 20.5 million cedis were trained for six months.

The full cost recovery for textile training at GRATIS/RTTC is over two million cedis for an individual, but at subsidised rate, it cost 500,000 cedis.

The 18 graduates under the STEP programme were part of those who registered for employment some 18 months ago when the Ministry of Manpower, Development and Employment undertook the registration of unemployed youth in the country.

The aim of the training programme is to equip the unemployed youth, particularly, women with income generating skills, and the training plays an important role in the development and transfer of technology to set up private enterprises.

Mrs Angelina Ofori-Atta, Deputy Minister of Manpower, Development and Employment who was the guest speaker noted that it is inspiring to see young people, being future leaders, applying themselves to undertake skilful training programmes to improve their standard of living.

It is again encouraging to see the youth take advantage of the STEP programme, which involved the registration of about one million people who needed employment.

She told them, "you now have a basic skill to start life to earn a living, and you can only make a headway if you continue to attend further courses to improve upon your skills and expand your enterprises".

Mrs Ofori-Atta explained that the STEP programme is funded through HIPC funds, adding it is the aim of the Ministry to introduce other courses like mushroom, grass-cutter and snails farming, among others, so that the youth in rural areas would not travel far in search of jobs.

On employment, the Deputy Minister said the people who acquire skills under the STEP programme should initiate their own ventures, and gave the assurance that the Ministry would be in touch with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning, to pass funds through the macro finance institutions to enable them to get credit facilities that would be paid back at a certain period.

He said the STEP programme would encourage the establishment of credit unions that would link up with the macro finance institutions, so that the members could easily get credit to expand their trade.

Mr Kwabena Dankyi Darfoor, Executive Director of GRATIS Foundation disclosed that GRATIS and the RTTCs have, under the regular six-month programme, trained a total of 1,387 people in batik/tie-dye cloth making and broadloom weaving nationwide, with 85 per cent of them being female and 10 per cent of them have benefited from the GRATIS working capital loan scheme set up to expand production.

He explained that the uniqueness of the GRATIS/RTTC training programmes is that trainees, during their training period are taken through the theory and practice of textiles design, pattern making, entrepreneurial training and one month industrial attachment at clients' workshops to prepare them for the operation of their private enterprises.

Mr Darfoor said GRATIS has proposed for the establishment of batik villages in Accra-Tema, Cape Coast, Takoradi, Kumasi, Sunyani and Tamale from where the increasing number of textile trainees could produce large quantities of textiles for export to benefit from the African Growth and Opportunities Act (AGOA) that provides for duty-free and unlimited quota for Ghanaian textile products on the US market.

Certificates were distributed to the graduates, with those trained under STEP programme coming from the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment who earned the accolade "Kufuor cert." from those who had theirs from GRATIS Foundation.