President Akufo-Addo making a presentation to one of the students
President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo has described technical and vocational education as “Ghana’s only hope to industrialize, develop and compete effectively with the global community.”
He noted that without technical and vocational training, it would be impossible for Ghana to marshal the required human resource to build the many infrastructure and systems required in transforming the economy and developing the nation.
“Technical and vocational education is the key to our (Ghana’s) future,” the president averred and gave the assurance that technical and vocational institutions would have top priority in the allocation of expenditure for the education sector.
He made the declaration in Ho when he interacted with students of the Ho Technical University (HTU) and the University of Health and Allied Sciences. The interaction was part of a two-day visit to the Volta Region, which started from Saturday, 13th to Sunday, 14th May, 2017.
President Akufo-Addo was unhappy that after 60 years of independence Ghana is still stuck with raw material production and not refining the raw material into more valuable products. For him, there is no future in that and that “we will continue to be poor if we keep engaging in raw material production.”
Abandoned Projects
He was hopeful that with adequate support for institutions like the Ho Technical University, Ghana’s future will be better. He therefore encouraged the youth to venture more into such institutions for the engineers, fabricators, professionals, designers, among others, to be churned out to lead the transformation agenda of the government.
He announced that although the erstwhile National Democratic Congress (NDC) neglected the Ho Polytechnic, the government of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) would take care of it and complete all the projects the NPP initiated under former President Kufour.
President Nana Addo promised that before his four-year term ends, the Vice Chancellor’s Residence, apartments for the lecturers, the Faculty for Industrial Arts projects among others, would have been completed.
I Will Not Disappoint Volta
The president, who had earlier worshipped with the Global Evangelical Church at Ho Fiave, thanked the people of the Volta Region for the support they had so far given him, his appointees and government and promised he would not disappoint them.
He urged the youth to take advantage of the free senior high school programme to be commenced in September, the ‘Planting for Food and Jobs,’ ‘One District, One Factory’ programmes, among others, to better themselves and make a living.
Support For Techinical Schools
At the Mafe-Kumase Senior High Secondary Technical School, President Akufo-Addo promised that senior high schools would be well equipped with laboratories and workshops to churn out graduates who can compete in the modern world of science and technology.
According to President Akufo-Addo, his government would not “turn the Free SHS into a process that simply churns out young people who would not be equipped to cope with the modern world. Government will ensure that our high schools and their teachers are equipped to deal with the white heat of science and technology that rules today’s world.”
The head of state, who was speaking at the 33rd Anniversary and 2nd Speech and Prize Giving Day celebration of the school, stressed that the education policy of his government would be one that deals with the unemployment situation in the country.
From Fred Duodu, Ho (freduoo@gmaul.com)