Some of the students
Tertiary students have been called upon to acquire entrepreneurial skills to create jobs for themselves and others.
Dr Kweku Safo Ankama, Dean of Faculty of Applied Arts and Technology (FAAT) of the Takoradi Technical University (TTU), made the call during the launch of the 2nd Open Day of the faculty yesterday.
It was on the theme, ‘Creating Entrepreneurship through Technical and Vocational Education, the Role of FAAT.”
He indicated that the impact of art in education, health, communication and engineering cannot be overemphasized.
“In Ghana, the brick, tiles, textiles and garment industries, printing, publishing, advertising and the multimedia industries, among others, have made and continue to make tremendous contributions to the socio-economic development of the nation,” he added.
He noted that the staff of the faculty were committed to assisting students to develop their talents, knowledge and skills in various art disciplines to promote national development.
“In order to achieve this objective, staff of the faculty are already inspired to commit themselves to training and churning out more productive and creative artists in tune with technical demands of modern day entrepreneurs,” he stressed.
Dr Ankama mentioned that the Faculty deemed it fit to develop its human capital by encouraging staff to improve themselves academically.
“All these are geared towards producing well refined qualified human resource ready to impact the industry with the needed skills and technology relevant in solving societal problems,” he noted.
Papa Kofi Kum-Essuon, Head of the Industrial Painting and Design Department of TTU, appealed to the Ministries of Education, Employment and Labour Relations, as well as Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts, to use visual art to tackle unemployment.
He indicated that the Faculty of Applied Arts and Technology had performed creditably by training students in Art Knowledge and Skills, adding that“But the Faculty could do better if it directs all its efforts at making entrepreneurs out of its students.”
“Students must be serious with their art, build self-confidence and move away from drugs. The worst gift you can give to your parents is to join the Unemployed Graduate Association.”
From Emmanuel Opoku, Takoradi