Guide on apprenticeship practice in the offing

A draft national plan to guide apprenticeship practice in line with global standards has been developed for the technical and vocational sector in the country.

The Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) put the document together, in collaboration with the British Council under a project called: Improving Work Opportunities — Relaying Knowledge (I-Work).

At a national workshop to present the draft policy to stakeholders in the education sector, the Executive Director of COTVET, Dr Fred Kyei Asamoah, said the policy would help guide apprenticeship in the country.

He said quality assurance on the draft policy would be done by the Ministry of Education and the COTVET Board after which it would be forwarded to Cabinet for review and final approval.

“We are hoping that by March when the Board sits and reviews the final draft, it will be forwarded to the Ministry and then forwarded to Cabinet for review and approval.

Definitely, we are in good shape and we are expecting it to be finalised and approved by close of year,” he said.

Industry collaboration

There has been concerns about how graduates from training institutions and the universities are able to meet the skills demand of industries.

Responding to the concerns, Dr Asamoah said with the development of the draft plan, there has been good collaboration with industry.

“Industry has been forthcoming and have been part of the discussions on skills development. It is good that government has stepped out of the way for industry to lead the process of skills development.

This is because they are the ones that use the skills and they know the relevant skills that are needed,” he said.

Getting it right

A Deputy Minister of Education in charge of TVET, Ms Gifty Twum-Ampofo, reiterated the importance of having a system to ensure that there was a streamlined apprenticeship policy to clearly define what it entailed with respect to apprenticeship in the country.

She said there should be standards and details on how things should be done under apprenticeship practice.

“Hitherto, we use to have a system where it is the master craftsman who decides what to teach or not, the number of days to teach etc.

We are also ensuring that the products that we will produce from this apprenticeship will be the kind of products that industry will love to work with, not only in Ghana but all over the world,” she said.

I-Work project

The Director, Programmes and Partnership, British Council, Mr Chikodi Onyemerela, said the I-Work is a collaborative project that sought to create enhanced opportunities for young people in the commonwealth by building the capacity of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) of leaders and practitioners.

He said the objective of the project was to improve the employment prospects of young people, including those from disadvantaged backgrounds, by piloting and introducing new approaches to employer-led skills development.

As part of the workshop, project’s results were showcased by the various beneficiaries, experiences shared and lessons learnt throughout the project implementation were also discussed with TVET stakeholders.