According to Head of Corporate Affairs for CTVET, Albert Opare, the Ghana TVET Voucher project (GTVP) is a project under the Ghanaian-German Financial Development Cooperation, co-financed by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) through KfW Development Bank and the Government of Ghana.

The Commission for Technical Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) is the implementing agency.

Out of the 19,000 plus people, 13,883 representing 73% are females, whilst 5,179 are males. GTVP provides demand-driven training vouchers to CTVET-registered master craft persons, their apprentices, and workers.

The vouchers are used to fund competency-based training (CBT) courses in CTVET–accredited training institutions for certification in National Proficiency Levels I and II and Certificates I and II respectively.

Mr. Opare indicated that the beneficiaries received the training in skills areas such as automotive repairs, cosmetology, garment, welding, consumer electronics, plumbing, electrical installation, block laying and furniture making.

Mr Opare was interacting with the media as part of an official visit to the Dabokpa Technical Institute, one of the beneficiary institutions of the project.

He indicated that the government plans to expand the project even further and has secured additional funding of 60 million dollars from the World Bank and 40 million Euros from the German Government through KFW Bank to train at least 50,000 more beneficiaries over the next five years.

In conclusion, he indicated that, in addition to the training provided, the GTVP project has had a very positive impact on the TVET system in Ghana.

Key among them is that numerous training institutions have been encouraged through the project to register with CTVET and are keen to achieve official accreditation for CBT implementation.

“Also, it has resulted in trade associations and informal sector training providers being encouraged to register with CTVET. Furthermore, through the project, Ghana has witnessed the Competency Based Training (CBT) approach being implemented on a large scale for a large number of Ghanaian youths.

Moreover, we have witnessed the modernization of the traditional apprenticeship system in Ghana through the implementation of the project. Finally, the project has strengthened CTVET as the regulatory body for TVET in Ghana,” he added.

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The Director-General of Ghana TVET Service, Mawuse Nudekor Awity, disclosed this in an interview with Adom News‘ Kodwo Mensah Aboroampa,

She said 50,899 students are already in school pursuing various TVET courses as compared to last year’s figure of 47,000 plus students.

The Director-General stated the service is surprised about the astronomical increment.

“This year, top BECE graduates chose TVET schools which is contrary to the erroneous belief that non-performing students after not gaining admission to various secondary schools then resort to technical and vocational training.

“The increment is a result of the flagship Free TVET being implemented by the Akufo-Addo-led government which some West African countries are still wondering how the magic was done,” she said.

According to Ghana TVET Service, some CEOs were among the parents who drove to the premises and other TVET schools to seek admission for their wards, something that rarely occurs.

To her, this is evident that TVET yields more returns than grammar education in both the secondary and tertiary levels because its focus was on providing work-relevant hands-on skills.

Mrs Awity emphasised how skills are important avenue to increasing incomes and sustaining livelihoods for the poor and since more new jobs in developing countries were created in the informal sector, it was crucial that skill training in that sector was also improved.

She touted technical and vocational education and training is the solution to youth unemployment in Ghana.

On the retooling of various TVET schools, Mrs Awity stated that upgrading and resourcing of workshops in technical and vocational education and training institutions across the country are ongoing to help in training skilled students who will be readily available for the job market after completion.

She added that more schools will be added to help in achieving the government’s transformational agenda of getting the workforce readily available for Ghana’s development.

She was of the view that as more and more people are getting interested and taking advantage of the skills training, a time is coming that Ghana as a country will not have to hire expatriates to do most of its road construction and other big projects.

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