Gov’t to set up first-ever Second Cycle Applied Technology Institutions – Bawumia

Vice president Dr Mahamudu Bawumia says Government is setting up the first ever second cycle applied technology institutions to train technical and vocational students.

These institutions are to be included for selection by Junior High Students under the Computer School Selection Programme in the next academic year.

Speaking at the official launch of the Ghana Technical and Vocational Education Training, (TVET) service in Accra on Tuesday December 14 Dr Bawumia said the government was determined to growth the human capital of the country since that determines the growth of every country.

He said “if you look at the empirical evidence, about what makes countries grow and develop, we know that it is not gold, it is not diamonds or oils or cocoa for that matter.

“It is not natural resources but the evidence is very clear that it is human resource that drive growth. The combination of human capital and technology that produces these increasing returns to investments in any economy that drives growth we have known this and you can see the attention the president and our government is paying to human capital and technology as a way of transformation”

Subsequenlty, the Vice President wrote on Facebook that “I launched in Accra this morning, the Ghana Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Service to give further impetus and direction to Government’s priority focus on technical and vocational education and training.

“This brings together all the technical and vocational programmes run by the 19 different Ministries under the ambit of the Ghana TVET Service, with the Director General of the Service reporting to the Minister and Ministry of Education, like her counterpart, Director General of the Ghana Education Service and other agencies under the Ministry.

“The operationalization of the Service is also to ensure the smooth take-off of Government’s flagship programme ‘Free TVET For All’, under which all the TVET Institutions which are now captured under the Ghana TVET Service will be included in the next academic year’s (February 2022) Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) for selection by the Junior High School graduates.

“We remain committed to providing greater opportunities for technical and vocation training and skill acquisition as we work towards achieving a Ghana Beyond Aid.”

Government in 2017 mooted the idea to align all technical and vocational training institutions. In 2019, the committee concluded its work and submitted to cabinet which was tabled before parliament.

In 2020, Parliament concluded its work which the president signed into law the ACT 1049 setting up the Ghana TVET services