A leading member of the National Democratic Congress Horace Nii Ayi Ankrah, has called on the Association of Ghana Industries (AGI), Ministry of Education and the Government to “collaborate in putting apprenticeships at the heart of our education and skills system.

This he said will drive the economy forward as it is the only sustainable way of addressing youth unemployment in the country to help grow the economy.”

“For a strong and growing economy, a high level of skills needed to meet employer demand and apprenticeships are a vital way of achieving this,” the immediate past chairman of the UK and Ireland Chapter of the party noted.

Mr Ankrah told Myjoyonline.com in an interview that, one important area that has to be addressed to help enhance the economy is youth  unemployment and “apprenticeship, once seen as a last resort for youngsters not cut out for formal education, is the perfect solution now sought after and valued by employers in countries whose economies are thriving.”

He called on both the government and the private sector to create the atmosphere by looking critically at recruitment practices to solve the problem of youth unemployment.

“I believe boosting the number of apprenticeships in every sector will redress the national skills shortage and help to turn around the economy, enabling us to keep pace with the strongest countries in Europe and emerging economies.”

He noted that, there is the need for a concerted effort by AGI, the Ministry of Education and government to make it more attractive and viable to set up modern-day apprenticeship schemes.

“We are in the 21st century and things have changed and modern-day apprenticeship schemes are meeting the demands of today’s industries to serve the future of Germany, Denmark, Austria and a host of European job markets and Ghana could do same.”

“If apprenticeship programmes are going to work in Ghana, we need a firm commitment from both the public and private sectors and we need to start in high school.  It must be a true partnership, between companies, educators and government to achieve the desired results in the form of highly skilled young adults ready for today’s global job market.

“The correlation between youth apprenticeships, youth employment and economic prosperity is undeniable.  It is time for Ghana to take a bold step towards reducing youth unemployment by borrowing from this idea,” Mr Ankrah concluded.