Vice President, Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia, has said there is a surge in preference for skills to certificate globally.

"Today, in the world, we are seeing a movement away from a world of certificate to a world of skills. The certificate only matters fundamentally in this new world if they allow you to perform certain skills or you bring certain skills with it."

He made this known while speaking at the launch of the Ghana Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Service at Accra Technical Training Center.

The event, which was held on Tuesday, was under the theme, "Stirring Ghana’s industrialisation drive through skill acquisition for national development.”

The Vice President explained that the country's growth is dependent on the combination of its human resources and technology. The skills acquired by an individual together with technology he said, increases the returns on investment.

According to him, empirical evidence in the field of economics, shows that natural resources on their own do not guarantee development of a country.

"We have all known in economics that if you look at the empirical evidence about what makes countries grow and develop, we know it is not gold, diamond, oil or cocoa for that matter. It is not natural resources.

The evidence is very clear that it is human capital - human resources that drive growth and technology. Because the combination of human capital and technology produces increase in returns to investment in any economy that drives growth," he said.

The Vice President revealed that the Akufo-Addo-led government is paying attention to human capital and technology as a way of transforming the country.

He said this is because the Ghana Beyond Aid agenda by government could only be possible when the youth is "equipped with competitive skills and are introduced to various skill-related careers."

Dr. Bawumia said government will establish the first-ever second cycle TVET Applied Technology High School in the country.

The establishment of this facility, he said is in connection with the government’s mission to make Ghana’s TVET centres one of the best in Sub-Saharan Africa.

“We’re going to establish the first-ever second cycle TVET Applied Technology High School across the country. The programmes to be offered at the Applied Technology High School will be designed as career-based technical education which integrates career and technical education with a rigorous academic core and industry participation,” the Vice President noted.