Education experts are cautioning the government not to rush into introducing Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) at the basic level of Ghana’s education.

The admonition follows a recent announcement by the Nigerian government to adopt the teaching of vocational and technical skills in basic schools.

Describing the initiative by the Nigerian government as a “good idea”, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare believes Ghana should not rush to adopt the TVET in basic schools.

“Labour market is skills rich, potentially affording promising careers to our young Africans instead of filling them in areas that they are likely to complete school and become unemployed,” he said.

In response to a question as to whether Ghana should embrace this policy, he said, “Let’s not rush into adopting this policy. The fact that it’s a good thing doesn’t mean Ghana must embrace. I think it’s too quick in the day for that question to be asked.”

Ghana’s education sector has seen various reforms since 1986, building on the rich skills of basic education where students in the JHS level were trained with relevant vocational skills.

But this has changed over the years.

Speaking on the ‘Luv in the Morning’ show on Luv FM, Mr. Asare mentioned that Ghana already practices skill training at the secondary and tertiary levels.

“We focus more on skills at the secondary level and tertiary level than the basic level where students can have the opportunity to choose. But since then, there have been reforms that have refocused our basic educational system on reading, writing, arithmetic and creative thinking,” he said.

Mr. Asare has observed that many schools have been constructed but did not have the necessary training equipment.

“It was evident that the JHSs that were constructed, many of them did not have the tools that were the bedrock of justification for the establishments. So, we had junior high schools built but didn’t have the adequate tools to justify their relevance,” he opined.

The educationist is convinced that “it is not a simple matter of building schools and organizing workshops” to implement this policy in Ghana’s education system.

He is supported by the Principal of Nana Ampontua Technical Institute, Alhaji Alhassan Ninche who says technical education is very costly.

“Training materials for technical and vocational education are costlier than those for general education, posing a significant challenge to delivering skills-based training at the JHS and SHS levels,” he said.