COTVET kick-starts role model programme for youth

Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) has set in motion a programme that seeks to encourage the youth of school going age -to go into Technical and Vocational Education and Training(TVET).

Dubbed: ‘The Role Model Programme,’ the initiative is purposed to heighten awareness, particularly among female students, about TVET and how it can help improve their economic performance, reduce poverty as well as create employment for them.

The Programme is borne out of the Development of Skills for Industry Project (DSIP) being executed by COTVET with financial support from the Africa Development Bank (AfDB) and the Government of Ghana.

Launching the Programme in Accra on Thursday, a Deputy Minister for Education, Hon. Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, said TVET was vital for producing relevant skills for creating employment for the youth of this country.

Hon. Ablakwa said despite the opportunities in TVET, statistics indicated that there was a general disinterest in TVET education in Ghana. He attributed the low patronage of TVET education to ignorance of the options available as well as low prestige enjoyed by the sector.

He submitted that while trade and courses such as catering and dressmaking were dominated by females, trades such as electronic, electrical, building and construction and mechanical engineering were male –dominated.

According to him, the Role Model Programme would reinforce the importance of TVET.

“As part of the implementation, the role models will share experiences of their working life, participate in panel discussions and be involved in other outreach programmes including some 16 workshops across the length and breadth of the country.”

He said the programme was not designed to replace the existing curricula, but rather to complement it. “Indeed role model education is not concerned with the imparting of Knowledge and information, as one might expect from an education context. Rather, its aim is to expose its target groups to specific attitudes, lifestyles, outlook and in particular, to individuals in which these attitudes and lifestyle are embodied,” he said.

In a welcome address, the Executive Director of COTVET, Mr. Sebastian Deh, said the event marked the beginning of -yet another spectacular programme that sought to rebrand TVET in the country.

Mr. Deh indicated that the Role Model Programme would serve as a catalyst to encourage the youth to embrace TVET, which would ultimately help with the development in the country. He urged Ghanaians to rally behind the programme in order to make it a success.

On his Part, Mr. James Asare Agyei, President of the Association of Ghana Industries(AGI), who was the Chairman for the occasion, said he was glad to be associated with such a novel programme because the AGI wanted school curricula to be aligned with the demands of the job market.

Mr. Agyei called on the government to invest more in TVET to address the human resource needs of the country.