General News of Wednesday, 15 May 2002

Source: gna

Report On Unemployed Delayed ....

..due to Technical Problems

The Deputy Minister for Employment and Manpower Development, Mr Joe Donkor says the the submission of the

report on the registration of unemployed youth in the country has delayed because of technical and logistic problems.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency in an interview in Accra, Mr Donkor asked the youth not to panic because the committee would soon come out with the report.

He said, however, that investigations revealed that 60 per cent of the

unemployed Junior Secondary School leavers in Accra are not insisting on placement in jobs but exposure to entrepreneurial training.

He said some Senior Secondary School leavers need a pass in one subject to enable them to further their education at either the polytechnics or other tertiary institutions.

The Deputy Minister said the one million registered unemployed youth would be grouped and placed under various programmes depending on their educational backgrounds and the areas they opted for.

Mr Donakor said some of these programmes designed for both skilled and unskilled youth include apprenticeship for those below 15 years and skilled and trade groups for those above.

Mr John Yaw Amankrah, Director of Research and Statistics at the Ministry, said one out of every three people registered is either a JSS leaver or a school dropout.

He said government is going to use part of the Highly Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) relief fund to assist in the training.

They would also be assisted with some capital to set up their own businesses after the training, he said.

Mr Amankrah said government is going to train about 30,000 master craftsmen that would later train others who need to acquire skills in specific areas.

He said children below 15 years also registered but

since the labour law does not allow them to work.