ABCDE mentorship programme to bridge gap between academia and corporate world

“We’re trying to bridge the gap between what students are taught in classrooms and what is happening in the real world because in the real world of employment, in industries, among the professions and even the public sector people who graduate from tertiary institutions are often not deemed to be ready for employment. They may have degrees but they lack a number of soft skills…”, a former Trade Minister has said.

Speaking at the maiden edition of the mentorship programme organised by African Business Centre for Developmental Education, its chairperson, Dr. Ekwow Spio-Garbrah indicated that there was the need for school going students in the various second cycle schools to be counselled by individuals in the corporate world to prepare them for the hurdle after school.

He noted that the mentorship programme will serve as supplement to the ‘raw education that the students are getting from quite good teachers and committed lecturers and professors’.

The former Education Minister also noted that the African Business Centre for Developmental Education programme will help students to interact with mentors since their teachers may never work in the various areas of their interests.

“If you happen to be a father who happens to work at Nestle and your child comes home then you can discuss with that child alone your own experience in a major multinational company but what about other children whose parents don’t work in such companies, what is available for them?, he queried.

Additionally Dr. Spio-Garbrah added that “there’s no structure available right now in Ghana or most African countries and so the African Business Centre for Development Education is trying to bridge the gap between what people are being taught in school and what they really need to know in order to be effective in the world of work so that when it’s time to gain employment they don’t become unemployed graduates as happens to be the case right now,”