The Centre for Competency-Based Training and Research (CCBTR) of Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) is to train via the Competency-Based Training (CBT) mode, about 1,450 persons in the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector this year.
CBT is a framework for teaching and assessing learning that helps learners acquire employable skills to work in the labour market. It is the type of pedagogy based on predetermined competencies or standards required in the world of work. Thus, CBT is a necessary condition for quality TVET education.
The training is possible thanks to a 609,000 euro grant agreement the Ghana Skills Development Initiative (GSDI) phase IV of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) signed with AAMUSTED on February 17, 2022.
The agreement covers one year. The beneficiaries include 150 TVET teachers from Colleges of Education, 100 workplace facilitators from industry, 100 CBT Curriculum developers from industry, 500 master craft persons in workplace facilitation, and 400 CBT facilitators, Assessors, and Internal Verifiers from Technical Institutes and Technical Universities.
The rest are 100 external verifiers from Technical Institutes and Technical Universities, 50 CBT programme team leaders from Technical Institutes and Technical Universities, and 50 disability and gender inclusiveness participants from Technical Institutes and Technical Universities.
The Vice-Chancellor of AAMUSTED, Prof. Frederick Kwaku Sarfo, expressed happiness that the agreement was in tandem with the University’s mandate to train teachers and workplace facilitators with relevant competencies in TVET and Entrepreneurial Development in support of the government’s job creation and economic development efforts.
He emphasised the crucial position of an effective TVET in salvaging the unemployment challenges plaguing the country. In that regard, he advocated that the provision and quality of TVET and Entrepreneurship Education at all levels should be anchored on the quality, effective, and holistic training of teachers in the area.
Therefore, he said AAMUSTED was consciously forging linkages with stakeholders such as industries, communities, and organisations to propel its work.
“We assure our partners that AAMUSTED has the capacity and capability to contribute our quota towards successful implementation of this noble project,” he said, welcoming officials to the brief agreement signing ceremony.
Prof. Sarfo was confident that the collaboration with GIZ/GSDI would enhance the teaching and learning of TVET in the Colleges of Education and other sectors as they went through the training anchored on the Competency-Based Training Methodology.
The Head of the PSED/TVET Unit at GIZ, Madam Leah Lambrecht, who signed the agreement on behalf of GIZ/GSDI, was happy that his outfit could sign such an important agreement with AAMUSTED.
In her view, the collaboration could engender a massive transformation of TVET in Ghana and lead to job openings and employment in the country. Therefore, she appealed to AAMUSTED to endeavor to do the needful to meet the objectives of the project.
For his part, the Director-General of CTVET, Dr. Fred Kyei Asamoah, commended the government for its commitment to the development of the TVET and Entrepreneurship sector to make it attractive for at least 50 percent of the Ghanaian youth.
He said the government was on course to accomplish its five-year strategic plan for the development of TVET in Ghana, announcing that about 82 percent of the plan was already achieved. He indicated CTVET’s full support for the GIZ/GSDI-AAMUSTED grant agreement.
AAMUSTED’s partnership with GIZ/GSDI dates back to April 4, 2019, when the parties signed their maiden deal to train 35 Principals, School Secretaries, and Finance Officers of relevant Colleges of Education from all over the country on the general management of TVET institutions using the CBT methodology.
