By Arko Dometey (Arc)
Ghana has spent billions of cedis and attracted millions of dollars in World Bank financing to reform Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). We have built new institutions, passed landmark laws, and made TVET tuition-free for tens of thousands of young people. Yet, despite all this, our TVET system is still failing the very people it was designed to help – and the economy that depends on their skills.
The numbers tell a sobering story. Only 29.4% of TVET programs in Ghana align with what employers actually need. Three-quarters of our curricula are outdated. Nearly one in ten institutions has no connection to industry whatsoever. And while enrollment has surged by 54% since the Free TVET policy began, the workshops are crowded, the equipment is obsolete, and the graduates are leaving school unprepared for the jobs that exist.
This instance reflects not a deficiency of intent, but a structural failure in design.
Structural fragility in supply chains
TVET is not just a school system but as a supply chain — a sequence of interconnected stages that must work together to transform raw human potential into employable skills. In a well-functioning system, labor market analysis feeds into curriculum design, which feeds into training delivery, which feeds into assessment and certification, which feeds into job placement – with feedback looping back to the beginning so the system learns and adapts.
In Ghana, each link within the supply chain exhibits structural fragility and is nearing collapse.
Stage One – Comprehensive Labor Market Analysis
There is no unified system for tracking what skills employers need. Data sits in silos across the Ghana Statistical Service, employer associations, and international agencies. The 12 Sector Skills Bodies established to bridge this gap are well-intentioned but under-resourced. They are run by volunteers with day jobs, not professional researchers. By the time a skills gap study is completed, the market has already moved on.
Stage Two – Demand Signal Reliability
Without reliable demand signals, curriculum designers at stage two are flying blind. They produce courses based on what they have always taught, not what the economy needs. In the Ashanti region, where agriculture dominates, only one of 57 pre-tertiary TVET institutions offers agricultural training. In an era of digital transformation, only four of those 57 offer ICT programs. This is not strategic planning. It is institutional inertia.
Stage Three – Workforce Training Delivery
The Free TVET policy has been a double-edged sword. Enrollment has exploded, but the infrastructure has not kept pace. Nearly a quarter of institutions report that their classrooms are not conducive to learning. Many workshops have equipment from the 1990s. One facilitator told me they have one welding machine for forty students. How do you teach hands-on skills when students get ten minutes of practice per week?
The result is that Competency-Based Training – the cornerstone of our reform agenda – exists on paper but not in practice. Facilitators teach theory from CBT manuals because they lack the tools to teach the actual competencies. Many have not set foot in an industry workplace in years. They are delivering training in trades they themselves have not mastered.
Stage Four – Assessment and Certification – the Challenge of Fragmentation
Despite Ghana’s 2020 reforms that established the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), the assessment and certification landscape remains fragmented. The intended harmonization under the National TVET Qualifications Framework (NTVETQF) has been undermined by the persistence of parallel systems, including legacy NVTI credentials; and other ministry-led or trade association certifications.
For employers, this multiplicity of qualifications creates uncertainty about the credibility of skills. For learners, it erodes confidence and diminishes motivation. Most critically, for the informal sector – where approximately 80% of Ghanaians earn their livelihoods – the Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) mechanism that could formalize existing competencies remains largely invisible.
Five years after the Education Regulatory Bodies Act (Act 1023) dissolved COTVET and NABPTEX to consolidate authority under CTVET, the sector continues to operate under overlapping legal frameworks. Older statutes, such as NVTI’s Act 351 (1970) and GES’s Act 778 (2008), were never explicitly repealed, leaving legal ambiguity and enabling parallel credentialing. Compounding this, no comprehensive transfer of pre-2020 learner records occurred, leaving thousands of graduates unable to verify their qualifications or pursue further education.
Experts caution that without urgent legislative intervention, Ghana’s TVET system risks losing credibility. Recommended measures include:
- Repealing conflicting laws to eliminate parallel mandates.
- Establishing a national credential registry to safeguard learner records and ensure transparency.
- Setting a sunset deadline for legacy certificates to enforce compliance and restore trust.
Ultimately, assessment and certification must evolve into a unified, transparent system that strengthens employer confidence, motivates learners, and integrates the informal sector into Ghana’s formal skills economy.
Finally, at stage five – placement and feedback
The loop is completely broken. There are no systematic tracer studies tracking where graduates end up, what they earn, or whether employers are satisfied. Graduates think they are prepared. Employers say they are not. And because this feedback never reaches curriculum designers, the same mistakes are repeated year after year.
Why This Matters Now
The stakes could not be higher. Ghana’s youth unemployment rate exceeds 50%. We are hosting the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Secretariat, which means our TVET standards will influence the entire region. Countries like Rwanda are investing aggressively in workforce-ready technical education. If we do not fix our TVET system, we will not only fail our own young people – we will fall behind in the regional competition for investment and talent.
The good news is that we do not need to start from scratch. Ghana has genuine strengths: a strong legal framework, a committed government, international partnerships, and a young population hungry for opportunity. The question is whether we have the political will to turn these assets into a coherent system.
Blueprint for Repair: Eight Steps to Realign Ghana’s TVET Chain
Extensive research into Ghana’s TVET ecosystem spanning government data, World Bank documentation, and stakeholder interviews — reveals eight reforms that can realign the supply chain with labor market demand. First, curriculum audits every three years must be mandatory, with accreditation tied to industry input. Second, workplace experience learning should be legislated, requiring students to spend at least 40% of their training in structured placements, supported by tax credits for host businesses. Third, facilitators must return to industry for six-month immersions every three years to stay current. Fourth, the Ghana Skills Development Fund must be fully operationalized with transparent governance and results-based financing to incentivize private sector investment.
Fifth, certification must be harmonized under the NTVETQF framework, phasing out legacy systems and enabling regional recognition under AfCFTA. Sixth, Recognition of Prior Learning should be scaled through mobile assessment teams to certify millions of informal artisans. Seventh, Ghana must rebrand TVET through a national campaign that showcases real success stories, shifting perceptions from “second choice” to a pathway to prosperity. Finally, and most critically, a real-time Labor Market Information System must be built to integrate employer, statistical, and training data on a monthly basis. Without reliable data, every other reform risks failure.
The Cost of Inaction
Implementing these reforms will require investment – perhaps GH₵20–30 million annually – but the price of inaction is far greater. Each year Ghana produces graduates who cannot find jobs, wasting public funds, eroding trust in education, and driving more young people toward irregular migration or informal survivalism. The country already has the legal framework, international partnerships, and demographic urgency to build a world-class TVET system; what is missing is coherence to make the pieces work together. TVET must be recognized as a cornerstone of economic growth, not a fallback option. The 2020 realignment under CTVET Act 1023 laid the foundation, but a foundation alone is not enough. Just as a foundation must be complemented by walls, systems, and skilled hands to become a functional building, Ghana’s TVET framework requires decisive reforms to evolve into a fully operational structure capable of delivering results. These eight steps provide the pathway to transform a fragmented system into a skills engine capable of powering national prosperity.
(The author is a researcher in education policy focusing on technical and vocational training systems in Sub-Saharan Africa. This article is based on a comprehensive study of Ghana’s TVET ecosystem, drawing on the Ghana TVET Report (2023), World Bank project documentation, and primary stakeholder interviews.)
