He emphasised that this support should be directed towards Technical Universities to re-engineer their curricula, focusing on skills and technologies that add value to primary commodities and natural resources.

Speaking at the 11th Baraka Policy Institute (BPI) annual public lecture in Accra last Thursday, Dr Afeti highlighted the challenges posed by inadequate infrastructure in the TVET sector, noting that significant investment is essential to equip and rebrand TVET.

Dr Afeti pointed out that one of the major challenges facing TVET was the lack of data, which inhibited the government’s ability to gather relevant information regarding TVET, noting that the surest way for the government to address unemployment was through TVET.

He stated that data was vital for establishing priorities and formulating policies that were capable of revamping TVET. “Data is essential. You cannot simply state things; your claims must be backed by hard evidence and reliable data. This lack of data is a significant problem in TVET provision in our country,” he mentioned.

Dr Afeti further underlined that revamping TVET would respond to societal needs in areas, but not limited to water, energy, transportation, health and agriculture, and that a massive investment in TVET would help Ghana in its 24-hour economy agenda.

He said the government should encourage the Technical Universities to train students in areas where they could add value to the country’s raw materials to make Ghana owners of their natural resources.

The Chairman of the BPI, Naa Alhassan Andani, said there was the need to encourage more practical ways of teaching in our schools rather than the regular theoretical manner of teaching.

He also stated that even in the technical institutions, which were supposed to be promoting technical knowledge, most of their teaching had become more theoretical, stressing that this had contributed to unemployment issues facing the country.

Additionally, Naa Andani indicated that a recent study by the BPI on the state of TVET in Ghana raises some critical concerns, among them being the poorly resourced TVET institutions, noting that these challenges raise fundamental questions about national commitment.

The Deputy Director in Charge of Programme and Project at the Ministry of Education, Ms Gertrude Challah, said the Ministry of Education, through the Commission for TVET and their strategic partners, continued to implement far-reaching reforms to reposition TVET as a “driver of job creation, innovation and sustainable livelihood.”

She mentioned that some of these interventions include the modernisation and retooling of TVET institutions across the country, the introduction of competency-based training to align skills with industry needs, and the establishment of a TVET campaign to rebrand and elevate the image of technical education.

Ms Challah also outlined that the Ministry would ensure that skills training responds directly to the emerging needs of industry and communities, adding that “young people, especially women, would be empowered to turn their skills into sustainable enterprises.”