A Deputy Minister of Education in charge of Technical Vocational Education Training (TVET) Barbara Asher Ayisi, has challenged women in Ghana to seek knowledge and skills in Technical and Vocational training to be able to secure managerial roles and economic opportunities.
In an interview with Citi News on the sidelines of a five-day TVET workshop oat the Koforidua Technical University for Women on leadership, the deputy Minister bemoaned the reluctance of Ghanaian women to pursue technical and vocational related courses.
“Women in Ghana contribute the majority of our population and in the informal sector. We want to encourage a lot these women to erase the perception people have about TVET that it is only when you are not academically good that you go in for technical or vocational education.”
The minister added that the government wants to help women in the informal sector who want to start their own businesses but would require them to be trained first.
“We want to encourage women to choose technical and vocational education because when you finish school, even if you had formal training you can start something on your own with a little capital and support from the government. However If you do not have the skills and you are chasing after a white colour joblike doctors, lawyers, teachers it becomes very difficult because a lot of these people to be employed but with the necessary skills acquired from technical and vocational education you can start doing something on your own whiles you wait to be employed” she noted.
The Deputy Minister, who reiterated government’s commitment towards providing sustainable quality technical vocational training education, says her ministry is working to make Ghana a hub of TVET for other countries in the sub-region.
“President Nana Addo is committed to TVET and my ministry is revamping technical and vocational education training. We are going to make TVET in Ghana very attractive for other countries to emulate.”
On her part, the Vice Chancellor of the Koforidua Technical University, Professor Smile Dzisi said the five-day training workshop seeks to build leadership capacity among women managers from publicly funded TVET institutions in Ghana.
“At the end of this workshop, it is expected that participants should be able to identify leadership characteristics and make a plan for personal development, explain the gender situation in Ghana TVET and identify strategies to mainstream gender in their various TVET institutions. Participants will also develop an action plan on promoting women leadership in TVET institutions and improve their leadership and management skills to become a driver of change” Simile Dzisi stated.
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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citinewsroom.com/Ghana