CEO of FC Beauty Group, Grace Amey-Obeng (left), Barbara Ayisi (middle) interacting with one of the graduates
The Netherlands Ambassador to Ghana, Ronald Strikker, has called on the Ghanaian government to focus on technical and vocational education to empower young girls and women.
Mr. Strikker disclosed this in an interview with DAILY GUIDE on the sidelines of a Technical, Vocational Education Training (TVET) Dialogue for young girls organized on Wednesday in Accra by the Ministry of Education in partnership with Plan International Ghana.
The event, which was themed, ‘Empowering the girl child, the role of TVET,’ was used to discuss how TVET could be used to empower Ghanaian girls and women to acquire employable skills.
“The dropout level of young girls in schools as compared to boys is high, so we should, in particular, put emphasis on that,” Mr. Strikker indicated.
Government, he said, should take steps to make vocational and technical education more attractive to the youth.
The Ambassador explained that “Of course today we talk about technical and vocational education to make sure that all the initiatives in technical and vocational education are focused on girls.”
According to the envoy, “Economic empowerment of girls and women is fundamental because jobs and schooling opportunities should be there for girls as well.”
Earlier, he observed that “this national dialogue on TVET is an important part of the economic empowerment of Ghana, which is the ultimate objective of the Ghana Beyond Aid Agenda. Economic empowerment requires a good business climate, investment, access to finance and educated and skilled people. Vocational and technical training is very much a part of that.”
He revealed that the Dutch government has been supporting and improving access to education in some countries, including Ghana, adding that “in the new policy of the Dutch Government, which was launched last year, education was also incorporated and then we have a couple of funds which are there to promote access to education, including technical and vocational education.”
The funds, he said, are available to Ghana and other countries to help sponsor their educational programmes.
Ghana Making Progress
Deputy Minister of Education in-charge of TVET, Barbara Asher Ayisi, explained that the only way to develop Ghana is to promote TVET, adding that TVET must be first and not the last.
According to her, TVET is the most practical avenue for acquiring the most desirable skills for the world of work.
Most countries in the Western World, she said, have developed due partly to TVET.
“But Africa has not paid attention to technical and vocational education over the years.
She added that in Ghana currently President Akufo-Addo is significantly making progress in the promotion of vocational and technical education.
She revealed that efforts were being made to modernize vocational institutions in the country and that 20 new vocational institutions were being built by the government.
The Deputy Minister was of the belief that investing in TVET would boost the socio-economic development of the country, stressing that TVET holds the key to wealth creation and poverty eradication in Ghana.
By Melvin Tarlue