Mr Rockson Dogbegah, the Board Chair of the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) has stressed the need for the development of a Strategic Plan to help in accelerating the development of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in the country.

Speaking at a stakeholders workshop for Development of a Costed National TVET Plan in Accra, Mr Dogbegah said the TVET landscape in Ghana looks promising with a lot of potential to be developed for nation building.

“Since, its formal inception and recognition at the national level in 2006, TVET is being taken more seriously in a more organized and results-oriented manner,” he said, adding that, a mixture of collaboration with stakeholders and innovation will be helpful in achieving the goals of TVET and the aim of COTVET in general.

He said Technical and vocational skills are industry demand-driven, that are needed for production of goods and services.

“They reflect the unique competencies that are procedurally applied by agents to deliver needed outcomes.

This has helped with the identification and development of competencies through partnerships between COTVET, government, industry and development partners,” Mr Dogbegah added.

He said these partnerships are gradually aiding the regulation and standardization of TVET in Ghana.

Mr Dogbegah said despite the progress, the TVET landscape is faced with many challenges, including the difficulty faced in effecting its policies, especially due to the low level of awareness about the role of COTVET in industry, enforcement challenges owing to information problems and inadequate funding, beside others.

However, Mr Dogbegah was optimistic that COTVET would become more relevant in championing TVET in Ghana, through effective TVET standardization, certification and the maximization of benefits for national development.

“I anticipate COTVET leading innovation and technology transfer in Ghana. In the long-term, COTVET will instill sanity in TVET, where the right people with the right skills will be employed for the right jobs, which will peak our sense of confidence in their expertise to deliver,” he said.

On the issue of gender participation, Mr Dogbegah was optimistic that more females would enrol on TVET roles and taking up opportunities in industry.

“We also expect to develop stronger and more effective collaborations with government, service providers, trainees, development partners and most importantly, industry,” he added.

Some of the stakeholders at the meeting underscored the need for a national philosophy and orientation on TVET and the need to have a TVET representation on the National Development Planning Commission.

There is also the suggestion to delink COTVET from the Ministry of Education and place it under the office of the President, since it cuts across all ministries and making TVET attractive to the youth as well as the need to have a harmonized, certification, qualification and framework.