The Head of the Agricultural Education Department of the University of Education (UEW), Dr Joseph Kobina Essibu, has underscored the need for the country to reform its education trajectory with a focus on promoting Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET).
That, he said, was to build a workforce to ensure the country’s economic transformation.
“We need to reform our education trajectory. We need to promote STEM and TVET.
“Skills development reform is no longer optional. It is a necessity if Ghana is to build a skilled workforce that drives our economic transformation,” Dr Essibu said when he presented a paper on “From Resources to Results: How Skills Development Unlocks Ghana’s True Potential,” in Accra last Friday.
This was during a high-level youth leadership summit, dubbed “Partnership for Impacts,” hosted by the Teacher Training Association of Ghana – Eastern and Greater Accra sectors and the Inspired Alswel Foundation.
It brought together young students across the country to learn and build capacity for the future.
Decent work
Dr Essibu said one in three of the country’s young people could not find decent work and that it was not because work did not exist, but it does.
“But because there is a catastrophic mismatch between the skills our young people carry and the skills our economy desperately needs.
We mine gold and export it unrefined. We grow cocoa and sell the raw bean.
We discover oil and watch others refine it into products we then buy back at premium prices.
“We do not have a resource problem.
We have a conversion problem.
And the conversion of raw potential, whether a mineral deposit or a young mind — into productive, valued output requires one thing above all else: skilled human capital,” he said.
Dr Essibu, who is also the Founder and Chief Executive of Ideal College Schools, said several factors necessitated the country’s skills development reform.
First, he said skills development reform was a worldwide trend and that countries across the globe were shifting from purely academic education to skills-based training that responded to real industry needs and, therefore, Ghana must not be left behind.
Standards
Secondly, he said, “Our industries today demand rigorous standards. Employers need graduates who can work competently from day one.
This means our training must align with international and local industry benchmarks”
“Thirdly, we need a new concept of learning and a curriculum reform in skills development. Learning must move beyond theory to practical, hands-on, competency-based training. Our curriculum should be flexible, relevant and responsive to the changing job market.
“Fourth, we need a new understanding of assessment. It is not enough to examine or test what a learner knows on paper.
We must assess what a learner can do.
Competency-based assessment, project, case study, discovery, practical demonstration, etc. are all necessary to ensure that certification truly reflects capability,” he said and that “We need to ensure high quality assurance mechanism in education.
This ensures our graduates are globally competitive. That requires quality assurance systems that guarantee our certificates are recognised and trusted”.
Ironically, he said that in Ghana, a good number of students who studied agriculture at all levels of education ended up not working in anything related to it.
Development
Dr Essibu said that was a very sad development for Ghana.
“Agriculture is still seen as ‘last option’ work instead of a modern, profitable business.
That mindset discourages graduates.
In short, reforming skills development in Ghana is about equipping our youth with practical skills, making them employable and strengthening our national development.
Dr Essibu said the country had, over the past few years, embarked on a major transformation of the skills development sector to make training more industry-relevant, competency-based, inclusive and aligned to labour market needs.
He advised youngsters to build their technical competence alongside their leadership competence.
“Ghana’s development is not a government project. It is a generational one. And your generation is the one.
The tools are being assembled.
The standards are being set.
The frameworks are being built.
The only question left — the only question that has ever really mattered in any nation’s development story — is whether the people rise to meet the moment.
I believe you will,” he said.
Source:
www.graphic.com.gh