Ghana’s Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) sector is inching toward a breaking point, and the warning is coming from the people closest to the ground.
At a gathering in Accra of principals from across the country, the Chairman of the 2025 Conference of Principals of Technical Institutions (COPTI), Dr. Ako Demetey, sounded an urgent alarm: the threat facing TVET today is not a shortage of ideas, but a dangerous misalignment of the very institutions meant to guide its future.
Addressing principals from across the country, Dr Demetey painted a picture of a sector brimming with policies, regulations and reforms, yet weakened by coordination gaps that leave schools struggling at the point where it matters most implementation.
A Regulator Missing in Action
At the heart of his concern is what he described as the “seldom” engagement of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET) with the people who run the schools.
“It is disheartening that our regulator, CTVET, has seldom shown keen interest in our activities over the years as principals.” Dr Demetey stated.
Without mincing words, he noted that the absence of consistent regulatory presence had made principals feel unseen at a time when their institutions were expected to anchor Ghana’s industrial transformation.
He described this vacuum not as a mere administrative lapse, but a structural weakness that risks slowing the momentum built over the last few years.
Two Authorities One Sector And a Maze of Overlaps
Dr. Demetey then turned to a more intricate problem: the legal and operational overlaps between CTVET and the TVET Service.
The laws governing both agencies were meant to strengthen the sector. Instead, they have created a labyrinth of intersecting responsibilities:
- CTVET is mandated to conduct examinations and set standards.
- TVET Service is empowered to deliver training, including assessment and evaluation, and to develop curricula.
In reality, this means two bodies can claim a mandate over the same activities.
According to Dr. Demetey, this duality has produced “duplication, blurred accountability and inefficient use of resources”—a challenge that principals confront daily.
He called for an urgent, minister-led reconciliation between the two Director-Generals to clarify roles once and for all.
Policies in Abundance, Implementation in Short Supply
If regulations are tangled, policies are abundant yet often dormant.
Ghana’s TVET ecosystem boasts a wide array of modern frameworks: the Apprenticeship Policy, the Workplace Experience Learning Policy, the Recognition of Prior Learning Policy, and hundreds of competency-based curricula.
But as Dr. Demetey noted, fewer than 50 out of 500 competency-based curricula are fully implemented.
Many of the policies, he explained, were crafted through foreign-funded projects that faded once the project cycle ended.
The outcome: schools are navigating a modern TVET vision with outdated, incomplete, or underfunded tools.
Schools Operating on the Edge
COPTI’s recent national survey, one of the most candid assessments yet from within the TVET space lays bare the strain on institutions:
- Over 90% of schools have no insurance for staff.
- More than 70% provide no insurance cover for learners.
- Out of 230 TVET schools, over 150 lack basic infrastructure such as functional workshops, modern tools, and stable electricity.
- Some schools operate with as few as three teachers, yet have nearly eight administrative staff.
In some institutions, Dr. Demetey said, “learning stops when the lights go off,” underscoring how fragile the system is despite the country’s ambition to build an industrial workforce.
A Call for Reset, Not Blame
Though firm in his critique, the COPTI Chair avoided assigning blame. Instead, he made a case for a reset, one built on genuine collaboration among policymakers, CTVET, the TVET Service and school leaders.
Let us work together at every step, he urged, and we will build a TVET system that truly meets the needs of learners, schools and the nation.
Dr Demetey’s remarks, delivered with the calm precision of someone who has seen the system from within, were less an indictment and more a warning Ghana’s TVET transformation will only go as far as its regulators are willing to walk with its schools.
