Apprenticeship programme takes off next year

10/24/07

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Story: Emmanuel Bonney
A National Apprenticeship Training Programme, under which the government will pay for one year cost of the training of junior high school graduates who could not qualify for senior high schools and technical institutes, will kick off in January 2008.
The Minister of Education, Science and Sports, Prof. Dominic Fobih, who made this known, said the Council for Technical and Vocational Education Training (COTVET), which had been set up, would be charged with developing the attachment programme, among other things, under the initiative.
Under the programme, beneficiaries will be attached to master craftsmen to undertake training in various vocations.
This year for instance, 160,000 JHS graduates failed to qualify for either senior high school or technical institute.
Prof. Fobih described the apprenticeship programme as a new chapter under the technical and vocational education training (TVET) of the country.
The government’s White Paper on the educational reform says a large number of the youth drop out of primary school and JHS and are thereafter not well directed in the world of work.
He said this was a source of worry to the government.
“Apprenticeship to acquire proficiency in the numerous areas of skill, industry and craftsmanship is today dominated by the private sector. Henceforth, it will become a commitment of the State to partner the private sector in a more systematic way to promote apprenticeship programmes," the White Paper said.
Under the programme, the government is to constitute a National Apprentice Training Board, among other things, to oversee and regulate apprenticeship training and handle issues concerning registration, content, duration and certification.
The White Paper said the government would also formalise community-based apprentice training schemes in all districts to cater for the youth, as well as support institutions such as the Regional Technology Transfer Centres (RTTCs) and Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology Industrial Service (GRATIS), Opportunities Industrialisation Centres (OICs), Youth Leadership Institutes and non-governmental organisations.
Prof. Fobih said the government would set up model technical schools in the country as part of efforts to give technical education and training a boost.
That would be in addition to the upgrading of the existing technical institutes, adding that the government would look at the possibility of establishing two of such schools in each district.
He said the schools would be provided with modern equipment for hands-on training and well-trained instructors among other things.