Prime News Ghana

SONA 2020 : TVET has always been part of Free SHS - Akufo-Addo

By Wendy Amarteifio
sona
President Akufo-Addo
Shares
facebook sharing button Share
twitter sharing button Tweet
email sharing button Email
sharethis sharing button Share

President Akufo-Addo has indicated that Technical and Vocational Education and Training( TVET) has always been part of government's flagship programme, Free SHS.

According to the President, his government has maintained its focus on improving technical and vocational education in Ghana and to make it free and accessible to all just like the Senior High School education.

It will be recalled that the former President, John Dramani Mahama in a Facebook post last month(January 2020) promised to make Technical and Vocational Education Training cost-free at all levels when voted into power in the upcoming elections.

The NDC leader in his Facebook post said: “To be clear, students undergoing Technical and Vocational Education at the second cycle and tertiary level will pay no fees.”

According to him, “only 48 TVET institutions under the Ghana Education Service benefit from the Free SHS programme.”

The remaining 240, he said, “have not been catered for, adding this is the critical gap my initiative intends to address.”

But President Akufo-Addo in his fourth State of the Nation Address today February 20, 2020, categorically stated that TVET has always been part of the Free SHS policy

''It has been the government's ultimate priority to make secondary education. The conversation should move on to how quickly we can transform children into technically minded and mathematics loving students. The government is moving the conversation to Technical and Vocational Education and Training( TVET). Just in case I need to remind anyone, TVET has always been part of free SHS, or if you prefer calling free TVET.''

READ ALSO:Government to extend the Free SHS policy to TVET institutions - Bawumia

Also, the Deputy of Education in charge of Technical, Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Mrs.Gifty Twum Ampofo last year made it known that government will extend the free education policy to Technical, Vocational Education and Training this year (2020)

According to the Deputy Minister, all the necessary budgetary arrangements to extend the free education policy to TVET education have been put in place, encouraging Ghanaian Children to go into skill training.

The Minister also promised that all the sixteen regions in Ghana will get two Technical, Vocational Education and Training centre to make easy enrollment.

She noted that the government has allocated funds to build two Vocational institutions in every region in the country with admissions expected to be done in September 2020.