Government is in dialogue with various stakeholders to ensure that education and training are made responsive to the country’s development needs.
Mr Enoch Teye Mensah, Minister of Employment and Social Welfare, who announced this, said improving the linkage between education and industry was necessary to ensure that the country’s workforce was better positioned to foster industrial development.
This was contained in an address read for him at a day’s National Workshop on Skills Development and Productivity organised by the Ghana Employers’ Association (GEA) to deepen discussions and find solutions to challenges in industry.
Mr Mensah reiterated government’s commitment to skills development and productivity as a broad programme of national development agenda and therefore included skills development and productivity in the national medium term policy framework.
“The inclusion of productivity issues in national development policies is an indication of government’s preparedness to promote productivity increase in the country,” he said.
Mr Mensah commended the GEA’s role in pushing for a national productivity movement to augment the country’s competitiveness and improve lives.
“Government fully endorses the GEA’s role in productivity and declares an unflinching commitment and leadership in waging massive national crusade on productivity in partnership with organised labour to change the fortunes of this country,” he said.
In this direction, the Management Development and Productivity Institute (MDPI) will in May this year, launch a national productivity week to create awareness of the need for national productivity improvement.
The week will be followed by the launch of the national productivity improvement awareness year to sensitise the public on the need for productivity improvement.
Mr T.K. Gyau, GEA President in a speech read on his behalf said employers were facing the challenge of getting the needed skills because of the mismatch of the current educational products and the needs of industry.
He said for skills development policy to be effective government and the social partners must build policy coherence by linking education and research to labour markets, social policy, technology, trade and investment and macroeconomic policies.