A Competent Based Training, (CBT) expert, Mr. Stephen Turkson has described Technical Vocational Educational Training, (TVET), as “Master Key” to development.

Addressing a conference for reviewing CBT Piloting and the Way Forward in Accra today, Mr. Turkson said the TVET system is under going reform as recommended by the Government 2004 White Paper on education. Mr. Turkson said that this can only be attained by changing and modifying certain old educational policies that are slowing down recommendations made on the White Paper.

“There is a need to alter old policies to conform to the agenda, unless new policies are made to support the reform, then, there is a need to forget about it”. Mr. Turkson said.

Some of the policies that Mr. Turkson craved stakeholders in the educational sector to reconsider include the recruitment policy which seeks to select a master degree holder as head of a technical institution instead of a competency based individual.   

He advocated for a separate entity to administer Technical Vocational Institutions rather than the Education Ministry, since budget support for vocational education is always not enough and most often diverted for secondary education.

The Minister for Education, Betty Mould Iddrisu reiterated government’s support for an apprenticeship programme, hence the training of 5000 basic school leavers in CBT.

She expressed gratitude to industries that provided work place training for CBT Students and called on other firms to emulate this step.

The Ghana Resident Representative of Japan International Corporation (JICA), Mr. Kunihiro Yamauchi said the CBT pilot project has been extended to December 2011, instead of March to enable institutions that have planned to expand the demand of the driven CBT method to other certificate levels which is currently not targeted in the piloting.

He was hopeful that the CBT method will provide students with the skills and working attitudes to persue productivity and competitiveness and also develop the human resource base for national economic growth, contribute to job creation, industrial development and poverty reduction.

The occasion was also used to graduate the first batch of CBT students in electronic, welding and fabrication.

Source: ISD(Nana Ama Bonnah)

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