Takoradi, Dec. 5, GNA - Vice President Alhaji Aliu Mahama has said the new education reform should be taken seriously in order to bridge the disparity between what educational institutions produce and what the labour market demands.

This was contained in an address read for him at the 28th Graduation, Prize-Giving and Fund Raising Day of the Sekondi-Takoradi Opportunities Industrialization Centre (OIC) at Takoradi. He said it was important the reforms were taken seriously to develop a critical mass of globally competitive workers who could become job creators and leaders within the Ghanaian economy.

Vice President Mahama said it was the government's objective to train and produce manpower with the requisite skills to enhance their potential to secure jobs. ''It is in this direction that the government has instituted reforms in the education sector to enhance the capacity to deliver a skilled and competitive workforce that can drive the nation to a modern ICT led human development era.'' He said the government would not shirk its responsibilities towards the attainment and the ultimate realization of these ideals. Vice President Mahama congratulated the centre on its achievements, particularly for producing a number of personalities who have enriched the human resource base of the country despite financial and resource constraints.

Papa Owusu-Ankomah, Member of Parliament for Sekondi, urged the centre to design and teach curricula that incorporate a great deal of technology-related subject matter. He said the world of work that students are being prepared for was a world in which technology facilitated innovation, which in turn drives national economic advancement.

Mr Samuel Thompson, Programme Manager of the Centre, said dressmaking and hairdressing have been added to the curriculum of the centre because of increasing public demand.

He said other two-year courses being offered included office management and computer skills, stenography Grade 11, carpentry and joinery, masonry, building draughtsmanship, welding and fabrication and batik tie and dye and soap making.

Nana Kobina Nketia V, Omanhene of Essikado Traditional Area, advised the grandaunts to aim at self-employment and called on the centre to assist its grandaunts in cash or kind to establish their own businesses.