President Nana Akufo-Addo has announced he will construct 20 modern Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions across the country to demonstrate his commitment to technical and vocation education.

His government, he added, would also upgrade some 35 existing TVET institutions across the country.

Speaking at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Ho Technical University, Ho, Saturday, August 25, Akufo-Addo observed some of existing institutions have infrastructural and logistical challenges which his government will address soon.

“Government is fully aware of the infrastructural needs of our Technical Universities. Efforts have been made at supplying demonstration laboratories for engineering students in some of the Technical Universities, including Ho Technical University, by Amatrol. The Ministry of Education is taking steps to providing similar laboratories to the rest of the Technical Universities,” he said.

Commenting on theme, “Consolidating the Gains of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Ghana; HTU @ 50”, the President Akufo-Addo noted that countries, like Malaysia, Singapore, and South Korea, with whom Ghana started the independence journey, have outstripped us, today, by far, in terms of development.

He observed that these countries made the fundamental decision to transform their economies from raw material, low productivity, agrarian economies, to value-added, industrial economies, adding that it is the same transformation that Ghana must engineer.

“This is the reason why my Government has placed importance on guaranteeing access to a minimum of senior high school education for all children, and has laid emphasis, in particular, on Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) as a major pillar for development,” he said.

Government’s strategy, he said, is to expand technical and vocational opportunities at both secondary and tertiary levels, and, thereby, strengthen the linkages between education and industry, as well as empower young people to deploy their skills, to employ themselves and others.

To this end, Government has aligned and brought all public TVET institutions in the country under the direct supervision of the Ministry of Education to streamline their curricula, and improve the coordination of their training, with the Deputy Minister for Education, Hon. Barbara Asher Ayisi, Member of Parliament for Cape Coast North, now specifically responsible for technical and vocational education.

Renaming Ho Tech. University after Ephraim Amu

Meanwhile, the president said the decision by the Governing Council of the Ho Technical University to rename the institution after the great Ghanaian cultural icon, Dr. Ephraim Amu, is an excellent one, which has received his blessings.

According to President Akufo-Addo, once the parliamentary process has been completed, the University will, thereafter, be called the Ephraim Amu Technical University, Ho.