The Deputy Minister in-charge of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Mrs Gifty Twum-Ampofo has called for a careful recruitment and training of technical university teachers to take up the vision of Competency-Based Training (CBT).

She said the kind of qualifications required for one to qualify for teaching in the technical universities must be more than obtaining a second university degree at the PhD level and added that such groups of teachers must appreciate that they were under obligation to produce task-oriented graduates.

“It is not enough engaging the right kind of staff but such staff must undertake periodic re-orientation in the face of the fast-changing technological environment,” she stated.

Mrs Gifty Twum-Ampofo was speaking in Koforidua at the 20^th graduation ceremony of the Koforidua Technical University on the theme: Embracing New Technologies and Creative Thinking to Drive Positive Change.”

2, 398 graduated during the ceremony and were awarded with degrees and diplomas in various disciplines.

Mrs Twum-Ampofo stated that currently, one must obtain a minimum of a Master’s degree to become a lecturer in a technical university, adding that all they needed to do was to register with any university to obtain that qualification.

“The question is, have the universities been doing anything different to be able to turn out teachers with the requisite hands-on, task-oriented qualification that the Technical Universities so need to train their students?” she asked.

She stated that if the present crop of Technical University teachers were trained the way it was being done, “it is not likely that the achievable targets of CBT would be realized.

Mr Twum-Ampofo explained that there was a need for a thorough re-orientation of all technical university lecturers for practical, task-oriented and re-training to be able to fulfil the objectives of the CBT concepts.

She said the development of the TVET and technological education at the tertiary level may be elusive if not backed with collaborative efforts of the training institutions, technical universities and industry.

That, she said required the integration of knowledge and professional skills requirement in the curricula of technical universities, and technical vocational institutions.

“Practical attachment and exposure, and internship schemes are among the best ways in which TVET education can prepare graduates for the world of work and life,” she said.

She congratulated the graduates and hoped that their training would be an opening of a brighter future for them and their families.

The Chairman of the Governing Council of the KTU, Professor Samuel Apori said the government has made a massive investment in human, material and monetary resources for TVET to bridge the gap between academia and TVET.

He said the government’s effort was helping to confront equality among various persons either academic or vocational and technical programmes at secondary and technical institutions, to bring transformation in the livelihood of the Ghanaian populace, and hoped that management and other stakeholders in the designated technical universities, secondary schools would not defeat government’s laudable technical and vocational training.

For his part, the New Vice Chancellor of the Koforidua Technical University (KTU), Professor John Owusu stated that the University still faced infrastructural challenges and appealed to the government for a special GetFund allocation to younger technical universities to leapfrog their development and enable them to increase access to more prospective students in the region.

He also appealed to the municipal assemblies in the New Juaben Municipality to provide resources to help in the provision of infrastructure and academic facilities for the university.

From Ama Tekyiwaa Ampadu Agyeman, Koforidua