So many people have shared their opinions on who is best suited to be the running mate for the NPP as the party heads into the crucial 2024 elections.

In my opinion, the ideal running mate should be hardworking, visionary,
compassionate, afterward, and a thought leader in any field they have operated in. So much has been said about the performance of Hon. Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh when he was appointed as the Minister for Education.

The most popular of his achievements is the successful implementation of the FREE SHS and TVET programs. There is, however, another sub-sector of the education sector where his performance can only be said to be stellar. That subsector is a field of technical and vocational education and training (TVET).

As someone who has worked in the TVET space for the past seven years, I can attest to the excellent work NAPO has done in the sector. Immediately after this government took office in 2017, with a clear plan to industrialize Ghana, NAPO, acting on the President’s vision to make TVET one of the key pillars of that industrialization agenda, took steps to revamp and modernize TVET so that it
becomes responsive to the needs of industry. He also took steps to make TVET
aspirational among the youth.

It would be recalled that H.E. the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo
pledged and stated that it was the goal of his government to make Ghana a world
class centre for skills development and a leading country in technical and vocational education training (TVET) delivery in Africa, and also make skill acquisition aspirational for all Ghanaians.

In relation to this, the NAPO worked to improve the governance and management of
TVET by establishing the Commission for TVET (CTVET) and the TVET Service
through the passage of Act 1023 and Act 1049, respectively, in 2020, to enhance
quality, expand access and increase funding for TVET.

The state of TVET before 2017:

The TVET sector was very uncoordinated, even though the Council for TVET
(COTVET) was established in 2006 by President Kuffour. Nineteen (19) Ministries
were engaged in some form of TVET regulation and delivery and therefore made
coordination across the landscape is quite challenging since each of the TVET
Institutions were taking direct instructions from their ministries and legislation.

There were also too many regulatory arrangements in the TVET sector prior to the
re-alignment process. Some of them are:

The NVTI Act of 1970 (Act 351)

The National Board for Professional and Technical Examinations (NABPTEX)
Act, 1994, Act 492)

The COTVET Act, 2006 (Act 718)

The Polytechnic Act, 2007 (Act 745)

National Council for Tertiary Education Act, 2007 (Act 454)

National Accreditation Board Act 2007 (Act 744)

Education Act of 2008

Technical Universities Act

Almost all the workshops in the TVET institutions were filled with obsolete tools and equipment, including the polytechnics, which are now technical universities. Additionally, TVET was not responsive to the needs of the industry. The linkage between training providers and the industry was very weak, which caused mismatches in the demand and supply of skills for the industry.

Investment in TVET was very low. The average expenditure for this period was less than 3% of the Ministry of Education’s budgetary allocation. The mode of TVET delivery was the traditional way of teaching, without any occupational standards.

Finally, perceptions of TVET were negative and people did not want their
children to attend TVET institutions.

What did Napo do to solve these challenges?

He developed the first five-year strategic plan for TVET, which was to be
implemented between 2018 and 2022. He also led government efforts to re-negotiate some projects to expand their scope, ensure value for money, and ensure quality delivery.

An example is the Ghana-China Project on Upgrading and Rehabilitation of
Technical universities and institutes to include more institutions and extend the warranty period.

One of the biggest drawbacks to the provision of quality TVET was the poor state of training facilities and equipment. Only a handful of formal TVET providers were considered well-equipped to provide training. Thus, NAPO worked with the Ministry of Finance to ensure that Parliament in March 2018 approved by resolution the concessional loan agreement between the government of Ghana and the EXIM Bank of China for an amount of US$119 million to finance the ‘The Rehabilitation and Upgrading of Equipment in Technical Universities and Technical Institutes’ (including Technical Universities and Polytechnics) project.

Subsequently, Parliament in July 2018 approved by resolution the supplementary
contract agreement as well as the commercial contract between the government of
Ghana and AVIC International Holding Corporation of China for the implementation
of the project. The rehabilitation and upgrading of ten (10) technical universities and thirteen (13) technical institutes, which includes the construction of new workshops and laboratories and the supply and installation of equipment fit for disciplines in electrical and electronics engineering, welding technology, automotive maintenance, civil engineering, and mechanical engineering, was completed and inaugurated in 2022, a year after he officially left the Ministry of Education.

The project is designed to support the Government’s efforts within the context of Human Capital Development priorities and to resolve key development challenge
of low quality of skills produced by the Technical and Vocational Education and Training subsector in the country.

NAPO further initiated a project, which resulted in the upgrading and
modernization of all the erstwhile 34 National Vocational and Technical Institutes (NVTI’s), Head Office together with 10 Regional Offices, 5 apprenticeship offices across the country, and the Opportunity Industrialization Center in Accra comprising of the construction, rehabilitation, and equipping of laboratories, workshops, additional classrooms, hostels, administrative offices, two (2) new foundries and machining centers, one in CSIR (Accra) and the other at KNUST, Kumasi, which was also completed and commissioned in 2022, a year after he left the Ministry of Education.

In December 2019, as Minister for Education, an additional project was initiated under the leadership of Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh when Ghana entered into the Master Framework Agreement (MFA), represented by the Ministry of Education and Planet One Education Limited, for the establishment of thirty-two (32) state-of-the-art TVET Institutes of Excellence in Ghana in three phases. The partner, Planet One, is a globally established organization and has extensive expertise in the educational sector.

They have already executed upgrading and modernizing all existing NVTI despite the various challenges, such as COVID-19. Consequently, the Cabinet and Parliament in 2020 approved a concessional loan of €158,901,273.00 to finance the construction of Phase One (1) of the Establishment of thirty-two (32) state-of-the-art TVET Centers Project.

This project is broadly aimed at increasing the employment rate of youth in
Ghana through the provision of skills training. More specifically, this project has eight objectives:

Improving youth employment, especially in rural areas;

Expanding equitable access in public TVET institutions targeting females and
rural poor;

Improving relevance and quality of TVET delivery;

Building technical and management capacity of CTVET and other skills
training centres;

Equipping the youth with entrepreneurship skills;

Adopting a cooperative approach to skills training for the youth to create
their own jobs;

Retraining current workers who have skill gaps; and

Imbuing in master craftsmen the aptitude for productivity and credibility.

These campuses will have academic facilities, Workshops, Laboratories, Hostels,
Staff accommodations and provide further access to training. The locations for phase I, which comprises 9 schools, are:

Center of Excellence at Abrankese (Ashanti region);

Boako (Western North)

Kenyasi (Ahafo)

Patuda (Bono East)

Dambai (Oti)

Salaga (Savannah)

Guabuliga (North-East)

Akyem Awisa (Eastern)

Tolibri (Upper West)

All these institutions will be provided with a variety of infrastructure, which ranges from administration blocks, accommodation facilities, common areas, and playing grounds, furniture, fittings and external works, tools and equipment for workshops, and ICT equipment.

The projects to improve infrastructure did not end with Phase I of the 32 state of the TVET centres. NAPO further initiated the District TVET Centres of Excellence with funding from GETFUND which aims at constructing 5 TVET centres of excellence, located at Anyinam, Pakyi No. 2, Akumadan, Manso Abore, and Assin
Jakai.

The project seeks to resolve key development challenges of the low quality of skills produced by the Technical, Vocational Education, and Training sub-sector of the country and improve the employability of Ghanaian youth by providing them with relevant skills and competencies required for self-employment and formal employment. This is with the view of not only helping reduce unemployment among the youth but also encouraging indigenous entrepreneurship and further providing Ghanaian industries with the relevant manpower to make them globally competitive.

These centres have the most modern and up-to-date tools and equipment, which will equip our students and learners with 21st-century skills needed to position Ghana to take advantage of the 4th and 5th industrial revolutions. So far, 2 of these centres are 100% complete, and two are almost at a 95% completion rate, with the remaining one yet to be started.

In addition to the reforms and upgrades to infrastructure, NAPO, in a bid to ensure that TVET became responsive to the needs of industry, established the first set of Sector Skills Bodies to focus on the exploration of business opportunities, innovation, and capacity needs within the sectors. The aim was to improve the role of industry in our skill development agenda.

Again, to address the issues of skills mismatch between training institutions and the industry, the first skills gap analysis and audit of priority sectors was undertaken under his leadership, and these reports are available on the website of the Commission for TVET and can be accessed by all training institutions and the industry.

Cabinet in December 2020, at NAPO’s request, also approved the National
Apprenticeship Policy which is being implemented by CTVET under the auspices of
the Ministry of Education. The policy provides a robust regulatory framework for
meaningful partnerships, social dialogue, institutional arrangements among the key stakeholders, and strong labor market relevance.

This will help actors in the development of appropriate interventions to move the apprenticeship sector in the right direction, contributing to skill development, decent work, and economic and social development. The goal of this policy is to provide a framework for harmonizing apprenticeship practice in Ghana. The policy provides mechanisms and guidelines for effective coordination and implementation of good practices in apprenticeship practice for economic growth and national development.

This apprenticeship policy aims to deliver a well-coordinated, inter-sectoral national apprenticeship system to enable all categories of learners to acquire relevant skills for employment, livelihood empowerment and socio-economic
development.

To help change the negative perceptions about TVET in Ghana, the NAPO as
Minister for Education, through CTVET in 2018, started implementing MyTVET
campaign to help change the negative public perceptions about TVET in Ghana.
This is because when NPP came to power in 2017, the greatest difficulty they had
with regards to TVET, was the low perception of technical and vocational skills and graduates in our society, as the effect had been catastrophic.

The campaign used TVET ambassadors and role models, skills competitions, and TVET career guidance and counseling among junior high school students to help improve perceptions of TVET. By the time NAPO left the Ministry of Education in 2021, with the realignment of TVET institutions to the Ministry of Education, the consolidation of the Free TVET opportunity, and the my-TVET campaign, the number of students placed in public pre-tertiary TVET institutions stood at 44,992 in May 2022, representing a significant increase as compared to previous years.

Before 2017, enrolment in TVET was hovering around 27,000. Additionally, one of the biggest legacies NAPO left for the TVET sub-sector before departing was securing $120 million US Dollars out of the total of $200 million dollars
allocated for the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project. It will be recalled that, during the first State of the Nation Address delivered by His Excellency the President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo, in his second term, he indicated that the government of Ghana will commence the implementation of the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project.

This project is expediting the development of competency-based training curricula on the National TVET Qualification Framework for 100 trades and professions from level one (1) (National Proficiency 1) to level five (5) (Higher National Diploma), as well as training some 25,000 beneficiaries. Overall, the project is expected to create between 199,500 and 252,000 jobs in the country over the five-year implementation period.

Also, as part of the project, the government has established a competitive fund.
called the Ghana Skills Development Fund (GSDF)”. The GSDF is embedded in the
government’s TVET policy, which has as its objective to “improve productivity
and competitiveness of the skilled workforce and raise the income-earning capacities of people, especially women, low-income groups, and people with disabilities (PWDs), through the provision of quality-oriented, industry-focused, and competency-based training programmes and complementary services.”.

At least 42,000 individuals are expected to be employed in these private enterprises six months after the implementation of the grant, resulting in increased income and better welfare for Ghanaians.

Napo as running mate:

From the above, NAPO as running mate means that Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia will
have a safe pair of hands as his deputy who can bring his dutifulness to bear on his government.

He would also be getting a person whose track record is solid and his competence
has never been in doubt. I trust in NAPO and I believe he is our best bet for the position of Running Mate.