Heads of Technical and Vocational Institutes on Monday convened in Accra to share knowledge and adopt action plans to ensure that the technical, vocational and agriculture requirements of the new Education Reform in providing employable skills to the youth is realised. Speaking at the forum, Reverend Dr. Fred Degbee, General Secretary of the Christian Council of Ghana (CCG) said human resource development, private sector development and good governance were key pillars to make Ghana a middle-income country by 2015, and hence a shift in the education policy to provide employable skills to the youth was commendable. He stated that a critical assessment of the educational system showed that 40 out of 100 Junior secondary school graduates continued to secondary school level, while 10 out of the 40 further their education to the tertiary level. Rev Degbee said making a strategic decision to support Ghanaian enterprises and promoting technical education, as a viable alternative to general education was therefore crucial to create employment and wealth for the nation. He said there must be improvement in technical skills, work ethics and manufacturing sector to effectively satisfy domestic market and compete globally. The CCG General Secretary pledged that religious bodies would provide more technical and vocational education to the youth to augment government's efforts in the sector. Ms. Comfort Ntiamoa-Mensah, facilitator for the programme said the Reform would create National Teachers Council and regulate vocational apprenticeship, especially those within the informal sector to prevent exploitation often encountered by trainees by trainers. She noted that the industry would also play a crucial role under the Reform's Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET) to provide more practical training for the graduates to be easily absolved after training. Ms. Ntiamoa-Mensah urged the school heads to cooperate with the District Assemblies who would now assume an additional task of managing schools within the districts. Source: GNA