Kumasi, July 25, GNA - Mrs Martha Danso, Senior Lecturer, College of Technology Education, University of Education, Winneba, has asked Ghanaians to change the negative perception about technical and vocational education, seen by many, as the preserve of weak students. This was necessary if the country was to make headway in the fight to reduce unemployment, particularly among the youth.

Mrs Danso was addressing the eighth graduation ceremony of the Ramseye= r Vocational and Technical Institute (RVTI) at Chirapatre, in Kumasi. "Prospects of vocational and technical training in the new Education= al Act: The way forward", was the theme of her address. Seventy-six students graduated after four years training in catering, fashion and design, block-laying and concreting and electrical installation. She noted that the progress of every nation, to a large extent, depended on the development of these sectors. Mrs Danso advised the graduating students to desist from the use of cheap and inferior materials for their work, telling them that, resorting t= o the use of crude and dubious means to make money would simply not do. They should adopt best business practices and use simple mathematical calculations to aid their monetary transactions. The Reverend Samuel Kwabena Asamoah, the Principal, said the Institute has since its establishment, 35 years ago, by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana, trained more than 5,000 young men and women in employable skills. They have been receiving support by way of tools and equipment supply from Kassel-Christian Education Fund in Germany.

Rev Asamoah appealed for additional classrooms and workshops, transport, library books as well as the construction of a fence to ward off encroachers and. He urged the students to make good use of the free tools given to them to aid the application of their trade. Nana Obibuo Addai-Yeboah Santamire II, Asantehene's Kentehene and former University Lecturer, said Africa was lagging behind in development because of its lackadaisical attitude towards vocational and technical education.