The Ghana Employers Association (GEA) has called for urgent bipartisan action to reform Ghana’s education system to better support economic growth, business expansion, and job creation.
Nana Dr E. Adu-Sarkodee Afriyie, President of the Association, made the call during an engagement with the New Patriotic Party Minority Caucus, where discussions focused on the growing mismatch between the skills produced by universities and the needs of industry.
He said Ghana’s current human capital structure is not aligned with the country’s development agenda, warning that the disconnect was slowing business growth and worsening unemployment.
According to him, many graduates lacked the practical and technical skills required by employers, particularly in sectors that are critical to industrialisation and private sector development.
“We are still producing large numbers of MBA graduates, yet many businesses are unable to find the skilled workers they need to grow. The human capital being produced is not aligned with the development needs of the country,” he said.
Nana Dr Afriyie stressed the need for a major shift in national policy to ensure that education and training were directly linked to the country’s economic priorities, including manufacturing, agribusiness, technology, and industrial production.
He said employers were increasingly struggling to find people with practical skills, noting that the situation was affecting productivity, competitiveness, and the ability of businesses to expand.
The GEA President therefore urged Parliament to enact legislation that would clearly define Ghana’s long-term development objectives and ensure that universities and training institutions produced graduates with the right skills to support those goals.
He called on political parties to work together on the issue, stressing that education reform should not change with every new government but must be guided by a long-term national strategy.
Minority Leader Mr Alexander Afenyo-Markin described youth unemployment as a structural challenge that continued to undermine productivity and national development.
He said available data showed that more than 1.3 million young Ghanaians were unemployed, adding that youth unemployment among those aged 15 to 24 remained significantly high.
“Education or training and youth unemployment is not a pipeline problem, but a national emergency. Youth unemployment stands at 32.5 percent among people aged between 15 and 24 years, and this reflects lost human potential and deepening inequality that no country can afford to ignore,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin noted that the engagement formed part of broader consultations by the Minority Caucus with key stakeholders in the private sector to identify practical solutions to challenges affecting businesses and employment.
Participants at the meeting also considered the establishment of a joint working group that would meet regularly to exchange ideas and propose policy reforms aimed at strengthening the private sector and improving job creation in Ghana.
