He said the huge education­al infrastructure deficit made it imperative that more funding, both locally and internationally, was channelled towards that area, stressing that, “We cannot provide our youth with 21st century skills in 19th century classrooms and expect them to make a difference in this globally competitive world.”

The President made the appeal in a speech read on his behalf by the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, at the opening of the maiden edition of the Afri­ca Skills Week (ASW) in Accra yesterday.

The ASW, being organised under the auspices of the African Union Commission for Education in col­laboration with the government of Ghana, was on the theme: “Skills and jobs for the 21st century; quality skills development for sus­tainable employment in Africa,” is scheduled for October 14 to 18.

In attendance are more than 600 participants from across the conti­nent, including experts in technical and vocational training, academics and industry players.

The ASW is aimed at driving policy action and sharing best practices in skills development by leaders and innovators on the continent.

President Akufo-Addo said the narrative where international development partners assert that their funding is not for infrastruc­ture must change, stressing that, “Our colleagues from the West, we appreciate your support, but do facilities and build schools as well.”

He further stated that even though it was good to support foundational learning through equipping teachers with the neces­sary skills, this effort would yield nothing unless it was backed by the needed infrastructure.

President Akufo-Addo noted that the world was changing fast with the fourth industrial revolu­tion and Africa must take advan­tage of the situation.

“The World Economy Forum report for 2023 underscores the fact that 23 per cent of jobs will change by 2027, with 69 million being most anticipated and 83 million existing positions expected to be displaced.

When you read reports like this, you have to ask yourself when there is a net loss, who suffers the loss the most? Of course, your guess is as good as mine. We in Africa may suffer the net loss, but it’s not too late,” he emphasised.

The African Union Commis­sioner for Education, Science Technology and Innovation (ESTI), Professor Mohamed Belhocine, for his part, added that Africa must focus on developing Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) across all lev­els of its education ladder.

This, he said, was the only way by which the continent could break out of the quagmire of underde­velopment.

Prof. Belhocine indicated that the continent risked further losing out with the advent of artificial intelligence and development of digital tools and everything possi­ble must be done to avoid that.

“There is the need to shed the light on the issues because we will not develop in our continent with­out relying on developing TVET at all levels from the basic skills to the most sophisticated, innovative and new skills that are emerging with the development of artificial intel­ligence, the development of digital tools and digital methods and so on and so forth,” he indicated.