The government has unveiled a strategy aimed at elevating the proportion of students enrolled in Technical and Vocational Educational Training (TVET) programmes by 50%.

This forms part of efforts to combat the nation's unemployment dilemma.

Recent data from the Commission for Technical and Vocational Educational Training indicates a notable surge in the number of Junior High School students opting for TVET programs at the Senior High School level. 

However, there remains a pressing need to further enhance the sector's appeal, particularly among the youth demographic.

The Director-General of the Commission, Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah, underscored the need for Ghana to embrace TVET, pointing to global exemplars like Germany, where TVET enrollment constitutes 65% of learners. 

He emphasised the significance of dual training, wherein students amalgamate practical workplace experience with theoretical instruction.

According to him, the initiative signals a concerted effort by the government to fortify TVET as a vital pathway for equipping the nation's workforce with essential skills and competencies, thereby fostering economic growth and addressing unemployment challenges.

“The perception about TVET is international, it’s not only in Ghana. When we came first into government, the percentage of learners going into TVET in Germany was close to 70 percent. Now is about 65 so the Germans are looking for a new approach, advanced dual TVET, so you want to go to the university, that’s fine but it has to be dual training, so you go to the workplace three days and go for lectures two days because whether we like it or not, the TVET approach is what’s going to happen.”

”So, it’s about product. If you look at what we’ve done, moving from below 20,000 learners from junior secondary schools going to TVET to over 60,000, it is something significant. But have we gotten there yet? No! We are expecting that at about 50 percent of our learners should be opting for TVET.”