Enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions across the Ahafo Region has recorded a significant upswing, following sustained efforts to dismantle long-standing misconceptions about skills-based education.

The Ahafo Regional Director of TVET service, Seth Asare-Bediako, revealed that more than 3,000 students were admitted into TVET institutions in the region for the 2025/2026 academic year, describing the development as a major milestone in the region’s human capital transformation.

According to him, years of negative perceptions that framed TVET as a “last option” have gradually been overturned through targeted public education, institutional reforms, and visible success stories.

He noted that parents, guardians, government officials, and stakeholder institutions now recognize TVET as a strategic driver of industrial growth, youth employment, and economic development in Ahafo.

“TVET is no longer misunderstood. It is now widely seen as the engine that will drive Ahafo’s development,” Mr Asare-Bediako said.

He cited distinguished sons and daughters of the region who are reshaping the narrative around skills training, including Alex Boampong, CEO of Alexiboam Construction Limited, whose firm employs skilled artisans.

He also said a leading fashion entrepreneur in Goaso, Eric Jay, whose company is creating job-ready youth, was attracted by the sector’s strong earning potential.

Mr Asare-Bediako made these remarks at a one-day capacity-building workshop held on Thursday in Bechem for 260 teaching and non-teaching staff drawn from TVET institutions across the Ahafo Region.

As part of the workshop, participants were taken through critical institutional and professional frameworks governing the TVET Service.

These included adherence to the code of ethics and professional conduct, preparation and implementation of schemes of work, understanding organizational structures, public procurement procedures, proper accounting practices, and effective records management, among other operational guidelines.

Mr Asare-Bediako noted that the training is expected to significantly enhance efficiency in teaching and learning processes across TVET institutions in the Ahafo Region, improve accountability, and strengthen professionalism within the service.

He further stressed that Ghana is increasingly coming to terms with what he described as a historic policy miscalculation, which prioritised grammar education over technical and vocational skills training for decades.

That imbalance, he said, has constrained industrial growth and worsened youth unemployment.

“Technical and vocational education is not the preserve of the less intelligent. That misconception has cost us as a nation,” he stated.

Principal Engineer Justice Adarkwah of Goaso TSC Technical Institute, Jones Adutwum of Bechem Technical Institute, and Armstrong Adu-Boakye of Bechem Technical Institute for the Deaf described the workshop as a game-changer, noting that it has enhanced instructional quality, administrative efficiency, and staff capacity across the region’s TVET institutions.

TVET schools represented at the workshop included Yamfo Technical Institute, Adrobaa Technical Institute, Islamic Technical Institute (Duayaw Nkwanta), Bechem Technical Institute, TSC Bechem, and Gyedu Technical Institute.

Others were TSC Goaso, Akrodie Technical Institute, Fawohoyeden Technical Institute, Kwapong Technical Institute, Asante Tano Methodist Technical Institute (Hwediem), and Bechem Technical School for the Deaf.