Ministry to prioritise ICT in phase two of STEP

Accra, Feb. 19, GNA - The Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment is to give Information Communication Technology (ICT) training a special pride of place in the second phase of the Skills Training Employment Placement (STEP) programme.

Mr. Yaw Barimah, the sector minister made this known in Parliament on Thursday when Mr. Samuel Johnfiah NPP Ahanta West, demanded to know what impact the ministry's policies had on employment.

He said this would ensure the demand-driven policy initiative of the ministry, and the President's desire to make Ghana a first class ICT nation.

"It is estimated that about 1,000 people will be trained in both soft and hardware."

Mr. Barimah said the ministry's policies were thus aimed at creating employment, especially self-employment, thereby creating wealth and reducing poverty in line with the Ghana Poverty Reduction strategy (GPRS).

He said in view of government's determination to divest itself of business and the current slow pace of expansion of the economy, which was affecting the intake of labour, the ministry decided to offer fee-free vocational and technical skills training to people to make them self-employable.

"To this end, the STEP programme, which was born out of the unemployed registration exercise of 2001, was placing more emphasis on vocational and technical training for JSS and SSS graduates, apprenticeship attachments to master craftsmen, and entrepreneurial training for University graduates" he added.

He stressed that the first phase of the STEP programme, which started in 2002 had so far trained about 3,500 unemployed people in dress-making, hairdressing, batik, tie and dye, food processing, carpentry, masonry and electrical auto repairs.

The Minister said about 750 head porters popularly called Kayayei had been trained and were being re-integrated into their communities, while about 1,900 others would be set-up using a revolving loan facility from the Youth Fund.