Sunyani (B/A), December 20, GNA - Twenty-four textile and technical apprentices have graduated in their various courses of training at the Sunyani Regional Technology Transfer Centre (RTTC).

The graduation ceremony organized by GRATIS/RTTC network saw each of the graduands presented with a certificate of participation issued by the Gratis Foundation and the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment, depending on their training context.

European Union (EU) and the Ghana Government, under the Skills Training and Employment Programme (SHEP) sponsored the trainees some of whom were trained for a period of three months, six months and three years in batik, tie-and-dye and engineering trades like welding and fabrication, metal machining and woodwork.

Two females took part in the technical apprentice training in engineering trades like welding and fabrication, metal machining and wood work with fabrication and metal machining as their training context.

In a welcoming address Mr. Kwabena Adu Amaniampong, acting Brong-Ahafo Regional Manager of the RTTC announced that his outfit, since its establishment 13 years ago, had trained a total of 210 people in Batik, tie and dye and additional 95 of them in Engineering trades.

Mr. Amaniampong specified that this year alone, the Centre had trained 30 people in batik, tie-and-dye under the Government's Skill Training and Employment Programme (STEP).

He said the GRATIS/RTTC training programme is unique in the sense that trainees, during their training underwent only 20 percent theory with 80 percent concentrating on practicals in addition to two weeks training in business management or entrepreneurship education. The GRATIS/RTTC see to the development and transfer of technology through training and manufacture of equipment as the most sustainable means of transforming Ghana into a middle-income country, Mr. Amaniampong noted.

Turning to the graduates, the RTTC acting manager assured them that the graduation ceremony did not end the Centre's relationship with them. "We will continue to visit and nurture your business to grow. Our doors are always opened for you and my advice to you is that you make judicious use of the skills acquired. The quality of the training you have received should enable you to operate successfully in your business, train others and contribute to the development of your communities", Mr. Amaniampong added.

In a speech by the Brong-Ahafo Regional Minister, Nana Kwadwo Seinti and read for him by Mr. Nat Dzadey of the Regional Coordinating Council (RCC), Nana Seinti congratulated the EU for its continued assistance to Ghana in various areas such as capacity building and rural and infrastructural development.

Nana Seinti said the Union's sponsorship of the trainee programmes indicates their confidence in the Government's STEP programme. The Regional Minister noted that Brong Ahafo, like other regional and metropolitan centres, has a high level of unemployment and under-employment and the Government was determined to tackle the problem under its Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS).

The Government, however, realizes that the problem cannot be tackled effective if the unemployed youth are not trained to acquire employable skills, he noted, adding that, it was for that reason why an Inter-Ministerial Committee in Action for Employment Generation (AFEG) was established to focus on employment generation.

He commended the Board and Management of the RTTC, Sunyani for their pioneering role in training the youth for the job market, and urged the management to do more by introducing other programmes that could be certified to train the youth.

Nana Seinti advised the graduands to form co-operatives to benefit the several micro credit schemes specifically designed to assist small and medium scale enterprises and to support people who acquired skills to set up their own businesses from the Rural Banks.

They must repay any form of financial assistance they might receive from financial agencies because, "the Government's declared 'Golden Age of Business' is built on technological innovation, honest private enterprise, hard work, market competition and efficiency."

The graduates should not be complacent but availed themselves of training and technology transfer programmes that might be organized periodically by government agencies such as the Business Advisory Centres, Rural Technology Service Centres and Non-Governmental Organisations to be able to diversify their products and services as a strategy to meet the level of competitiveness and the capacity to survive in the liberalized local market as well as on the global market.