Participants at a multi-stakeholder dialogue on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) and decent work have called for stronger collaboration among government, industry, academia and labour unions to bridge skills gaps and improve employment outcomes for graduates.
The dialogue, organised by the Trades Union Congress (TUC) Ghana with support from Danish Trade Union Development Agency (DTDA), brought together representatives from the Ministry of Education, Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Employment, the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), industry players, training institutions, organised labour and development partners.
Mr Joshua Ansah, Secretary-General of the TUC Ghana, said the labour movement’s interest in TVET stemmed from its commitment to ensuring workers possessed the knowledge, practical skills and confidence required to secure decent jobs and remain relevant in an evolving labour market.
He said rapid technological change and workplace transformation required continuous skills development to enable workers to adapt to changing industry demands.
“TVET is about workers. It is about ensuring that people have the knowledge, skills and confidence to secure decent jobs, remain relevant, adapt to changes in the workplace and continue to earn sustainable livelihoods,” he said.
Mr Ansah noted that workers’ practical knowledge and experience should inform discussions on skills development and labour market policies.
He said the dialogue formed part of a broader study being undertaken by the TUC with support from DTDA to examine Ghana’s TVET and apprenticeship systems.
According to him, the exercise seeks to generate evidence, stimulate dialogue and identify practical ways through which organised labour could contribute more effectively to skills development and lifelong learning.
He urged participants to openly share their experiences, identify challenges and propose practical recommendations to strengthen partnerships between government, training institutions, employers and organised labour.
He expressed optimism that the discussions would contribute to improving TVET delivery and enhancing decent work opportunities across the country.
Prof. Nana Yaw Asabere, Dean of the Faculty of Applied Sciences at Accra Technical University (ATU), said improving graduate employability required stronger collaboration between educational institutions and industry.
He said higher education institutions needed to engage employers throughout the training process to ensure students acquired the skills required by the labour market.
“We train the students, but we need to understand the qualifications they require from the beginning, the skills they need while in school and how they fit into industry after graduation,” he said.
Prof. Asabere observed that Ghana continued to face skills mismatches and weak collaboration between academia and industry, limiting graduates’ ability to transition successfully into employment.
He said addressing the long-standing disconnect between educational institutions and employers required deliberate engagement with industry to align training programmes with labour market needs.
“The issue about the academia-industry gap keeps coming up. We have to face it head-on by engaging industry partners because that is the only way to address the problem,” he said.
He also called for greater collaboration among institutions, noting that many organisations were implementing separate initiatives without adequate coordination.
“There is a lack of commitment and collaboration. Institutions are working in isolation. This dialogue demonstrates that we need to work together if we are to address the challenges effectively,” he said.
Prof. Asabere urged policymakers to focus on implementing existing TVET policies rather than developing new ones, stressing that the challenge lay in execution rather than policy formulation.
He also encouraged students to take an active interest in their education by asking questions and engaging their student representative bodies to help improve the quality and relevance of training programmes.
He said strengthening TVET was essential to driving industrialisation, improving employability and supporting Ghana’s long-term economic growth.
