SPEECH BY THE AG. DIRECTOR GENERAL OF CTVET, AT CLOSING CEREMONY OF THE 4TH QUADRENNIEL NATIONAL DELEGATES CONFERENCE

The Chairman for the Occasion

Invited Guests

Ladies and Gentlemen

It is an honour and pleasure to address this important assembly in the beautiful city of Kumasi.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I believe we are all here today because of our passion and drive to see the Barbering Industry reformed and at par with what exists in the developed nations of the world. This is aptly captured in the theme for this occasion “BUIDLING OUR INDUSTRY THROUGH QUALITY EDUCATION AND TRAINING”.

This theme resonates with what the Government of Ghana is trying to achieve the establishment of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET). Our mandate at CTVET is to promote, regulate and administer TVET for transformation and innovation for sustainable development.

I am also particularly pleased with the theme because it resonates with the SDG 4. Goal 4 is to ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning. As you may be aware, on 25 September 2015, the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and identified 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the plan for action to end poverty, protect the planet’s biosphere and ensure prosperity for all.

Today, the world has the largest youth cohort in history. Whether this translates into the largest development dividend or the largest development challenge in history will much depend on how this cohort of youth is educated and skilled for the changing world of work. This is why the SDG 4 is so important.

Ladies and Gentlemen, quality education and training can only be achieved if we take conscious and deliberate steps to bring it about. This is why one of the major divisions within the Commission is the Standards, Curriculum Development and Enforcement which is mandated to ensure there is quality in TVET delivery.

To ensure that this role is undertaken successfully, the Government through the Commission has established the Sector Skills Bodies (SSBs). The sector bodies are being established to focus on exploration of business opportunities, innovation and capacity needs within the sectors. They will help the Commission develop occupational standards, provide input for curriculum development as well as advise the Commission about the Skill needs of their sectors.

To compliment these efforts, Government has committed over $700 million (USD) to revamp and transform TVET over the last 4 to 5 years alone. Government is equipping and retooling the TVET institutions and Technical Universities in a bid to make Ghana the hub of TVET excellence across Africa as envisioned by the His Excellency the President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo.

Government is also committing an additional 200 million dollars through the jobs and skills project to ensure there is quality in TVET delivery as well as to support MSME’s through the Commission for TVET (CTVET) and the Ghana Enterprise Agency (GEA) respectively.

Again, the Enforcement Unit within the Commission is key to promoting quality in TVET. Enforcement is a process of ensuring compliance with law, regulation, rules, standards. The Enforcement Unit is a division under the SCD&E Directorate. The main function of the Unit is to ensure stakeholder implementation of the quality assurance procedures and their compliance with statutory laws, regulation and standards. Stakeholder compliance in this sense refers to compliance with all external regulatory requirements and standards coupled with all the internal obligations driven by their internal quality assurance mechanism. The element of quality assurance in the enforcement process is to help address the issues of mismatch, misalignment and gaps within our accreditation process and effective implementation of the CBT by various stakeholders.

 Ladies and Gentlemen, in addition to all these, several steps are being taken to ensure that TVET in Ghana becomes world-class.

So far, the government has undertaken the following;

1. Started the establishment of 20 state-of-the-art TVET institutions to improve access
2. Conducted of skills gap analysis in various sectors

III.     Needs assessment of all TVET institutions conducted

1. Implementation of Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL)
2. Implementation of the MyTVET campaign
3. Developing a manual for Gender and Persons with Special Needs

VII.   Upgrade and modernization of all NVTI institutions

VIII. Upgrade and equipping if selected TVIs and Technical Universities; among others.

Ladies and Gentlemen, these are exciting times for TVET and I am glad to announce that, the Commission will begin the implementation of the Ghana Jobs and Skills Project which is aimed at providing over 200,000 jobs to Ghanaian youth through skills training. Through a robust apprenticeship programme under the Jobs and Skills training, the youth will be provided with demand driven skills which is industry led.

Also, the Commission has developed a National Apprenticeship Policy which has been approved by the Ministry of Education and Cabinet. The National Apprenticeship Policy sets out the mechanisms required to strengthen the apprenticeship system in Ghana and help improve opportunities for youth employment.

I am also happy to announce that Ghana became the 81st member of WorldSkills in June 2019. WorldSkills is the global hub for skills excellence and developments with ongoing activities nationally, regionally and globally. This will give us access to WorldSkills standards and specifications and also introduce the youth to a variety of skilled areas. This year we will be organizing a National Skills Competition in August to select people who will compete in the WorldSkills Africa Regional Competition and the WorldSkills Competition in Namibia and Shanghai (China) all in 2022.

The Commission will also continue implementing CBT as per the 5-year strategic plan and all TVET institutions in Ghana and all awarding bodies will be expected to issue only CBT qualifications on the National TVET Qualification Framework (NTVETQF) for TVET learners in Ghana at the end of the 5 years. As part of the Commissions effort to operationalize this policy, all TVET institutions, TVET Facilitators, Assessors and Verifiers are supposed to be registered and accredited with the Commission so as to ensure quality TVET delivery in Ghana.

Let me use this occasion to encourage all you to work closely with the CTVET so that your institutions will be registered and accredited.

Let me thank you very much for inviting me to this august gathering and it is my fervent hope that we will leave here with lots of issues, addressed that will help reform our TVET system to the standard it deserves. 

Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my pleasure and honour to have addressed you.

Thank you very much.