This is in addition to the 18,000 master craftswomen who have so far benefitted from the initiative, known as the Ghana TVET Voucher Project (GTVP), being executed under the Ghanaian-German Financial Cooperation.

“It is for free, and already we are talking about 18,000, and the next phase is about 50,000,” the Director-General of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, said at a media engagement in Accra yesterday.

The GTVP is a project under the Ghanaian-German Financial Cooperation, co-financed by the Government of Ghana (GoG) and BMZ through KFW.

Dr Asamoah said the GTVP was being implemented aside from the formal TVET training being carried out in the technical universities, adding that the programme catered for people who had completed grammar school and wanted to venture into TVET.

Unemployment

According to him, ensuring that people had the skills that could create jobs was the focus of TVET.

“The government puts in policies that will support right skills development because if we trained for the past and we don’t train for the current system and then the future, then we won’t create jobs,” he said.

He said the ultimate aim of the TVET transformational agenda was to create jobs and provide the support industry needed.

Under the strategic plan for TVET transformation (2018-2022), he said, the governance and management of TVET was to provide a coherent legal and institutional framework for the sector which was accountable and responsive to the demands of the private sector and other stakeholders.

Furthermore, it was to ensure equitable access and promote gender mainstreaming in TVET, ensure quality assurance in TVET with regard to internally accepted standards and develop a sustainable source of funding for the sector, he said.

Skills project

Dr Asamoah also made mention of the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project (GJSP) being supported by the International Development Association of the World Bank, saying that the initiative was to support skills development and job creation.

He indicated that the project had five components and was estimated to cost $200 million.

The implementing agencies are the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Employment and Labour Relations, the CTVET, the Ghana Enterprises Agency and the Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation.

Dr Asamoah indicated that the mandate of the CTVET was to regulate, promote and administer TVET for transformation and innovation for sustainable development.

Component One of the programme, he explained, involved apprenticeship training for jobs, while Component Two comprised the provision of entrepreneurship and micro and small enterprise support for jobs.