A senior lecturer at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Dr Joseph Ofei-Darko, has called on the education institutions to give priority to entrepreneurship training to assist tackle the soaring youth unemployment.

He said it was important to make deliberate efforts to aid students with the skills, capacity and willingness to go into business ventures to end the over-reliance on the government for jobs. They should additionally be exposed to best business management practices to sustain their operations.

Dr Ofei-Darko was speaking at the 11th graduation ceremony held by the Ramseyer Vocational Technical Institute at Kyirapatre, in Kumasi. “Contributions made by the Presbyterian Church of Ghana towards vocational/technical education in Ghana: The way forward” was the theme.

A total of 79 students graduated in four main disciplines - catering and hospitality, fashion design, building construction and electrical installation and were presented with start-up tools and equipment to set up their own businesses. He further iterated that, nobody should downplay the significant role of vocational and technical education in national development and therefore should be given the needed prominence and that they needed to be encouraged and supported to operate more smoothly and efficiently.

Reverend Samuel Kwame Mensah, former General Manager of Presbyterian Schools, suggested to the management of the Institute to diversify its programmes and courses to meet local demand. They should make provision for “short duration programmes, top-up and skills sharpening”.

He also spoke of the need to find new ways of doing things to cut down the cost of the training to boost students’ enrolment. Rev Samuel Asamoa Ayeh-Hanson, the Principal, said the Institute had been approved by the Ghana Education Service (GES) to run distance learning programmes in hospitality and catering management and building construction technology.

He announced plans to added cosmetology, decoration, floral and cake making and tailoring to its programmes in response to demands of the job market. He also appealed for more classrooms and workshops as well as financial support for needy students.