By Arko Dometey
Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) has rightly been a cornerstone of Ghana’s education reform in recent years. With the expansion of Free TVET and Competency-Based Training under the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training and the Ministry of Education, access to applied skills training has improved dramatically.
Yet, despite increased enrolment and better infrastructure, a troubling paradox persists: TVET schools are training students in production skills they are not allowed to practice at scale. Furniture, uniforms, agricultural produce, metalworks which are items that many TVET students are trained to make are instead outsourced to private suppliers, often with political influence. Meanwhile, workshops stand idle and students graduate with limited real-world production experience.
This is not just an educational problem, rather it is an economic and policy failure.
Production-Based Learning Works Globally and in Africa
Research consistently shows that TVET is most effective when training is integrated with actual production. According to UNESCO‑UNEVOC, institutions that embed work-based production units significantly improve student employability, entrepreneurial skills, and cooperation with industry partners (UNESCO-UNEVOC, 2020). These units serve as learning platforms, revenue generators, and industry bridges, making them a best practice in TVET systems worldwide.
Africa: Production Units in Practice
In Kenya, for example, many TVET schools operate production units that manufacture furniture, metalwork, and other goods for local markets. At Don Bosco Technical Secondary School in Embu, students in Carpentry & Joinery and related programs regularly execute custom work orders through the school workshop, gaining hands-on experience and contributing to institutional revenue (Don Bosco Technical Secondary School, n.d.).
In Zambia, a survey of school production units found widespread support for continued production activities and recommended stronger teacher deployment in production skills to boost outcomes (Bwalya, 2011). Despite challenges like capital and water constraints, producers and learners alike affirmed that production units should be central to TVET.
The Ghanaian Context: Workshops, Yet Little Production
Ghana’s own TVET reforms document the importance of industry linkage, workplace learning, and financial sustainability (CTVET, 2023). Yet, implementation has fallen short in translating training into productive outcomes that serve both education and national economic needs.
Across many Ghanaian TVET institutions:
- Fashion and garment workshops exist, but uniforms for schools are procured externally.
- Carpentry and joinery departments are equipped, but furniture contracts are routinely outsourced.
- Agricultural training farms are active in teaching, but cannot formally supply institutional feeding programmes.
This disconnect reflects long-standing structural barriers in procurement and institutional policy.
Why Exclusion from Production Matters
1. Weakens Practical Competence
Employers regularly cite practical skill gaps among TVET graduates. A thematic review of employer demand shows that hands-on production experience including managing quality, cost, and deliverables is critical to workplace readiness. When students are trained only in controlled classroom projects, they miss crucial experiential learning (World Bank skills reports).
In Nigeria’s woodwork TVET sector, researchers found that industry-desired skills include machine proficiency, customization, digital design, and advanced joinery competencies that only emerge through real production exposure (Chukwu et al., 2024).
2. Saps Financial Sustainability
Production units are proven revenue sources. In parts of the Philippines, TVL schools operate income-generating activities that contribute meaningfully to school improvement, innovation, employment, and resource allocation (Doncillo, 2025). Similarly, Kenyan TVET authorities report that income-generating activities, including production units, are helping institutions move toward financial self-sufficiency (TVETA, 2024).
Ghana’s TVET financing framework including internally generated funds lists production units and consultancy as key income streams. Yet without structural permission to compete for contracts, this potential remains largely untapped.
3. Increases Public Costs and Undermines Policy Goals
When public institutions outsource production that TVET schools could provide, government spends more and gets less educational value. Ghana’s public procurement laws, overseen by the Public Procurement Authority, mandate value for money and local capacity development. Yet practice often excludes capable public TVET producers from bidding competitively, especially at district and regional levels.
This not only undermines procurement objectives but weakens national manufacturing capacity — a departure from the principle of local value addition.
A Forward-Looking Reform Agenda
1. Formalise Institutional Production Units (IPUs)
TVET workshops should be recognised as semi-autonomous production entities legally eligible to bid for and deliver goods and services, subject to quality and compliance standards.
2. Reform Public Procurement to Include TVET Schools
Government should create transparent entry windows for TVET institutions in procurement, especially for products and services that align with their training mandates. This should be structured, measurable, and audited, not discretionary.
3. Revenue Sharing for Sustainability
Revenue from production units should be managed under a clear formula, for example:
- 40% reinvested in production and equipment,
- 30% for student incentives and scholarships,
- 30% to improve TVET programmes.
This encourages continuity, accountability, and student engagement.
4. Protect Technical Training from Political Distortion
Procurement decisions must prioritise capacity, quality, and value, not political proximity. Opening up supply opportunities to TVET schools is not a subsidy, it is fair competition.
Conclusion: From Training to Production
Ghana’s TVET institutions have the infrastructure, students, and instructors required to produce goods that are currently outsourced. What is missing are policies that connect training to production in ways that benefit learners, public finances, and national industrial objectives.
If Ghana is serious about:
- building a practical, skilled workforce,
- strengthening local manufacturing,
- and ensuring value for public procurement,
then TVET must not merely train, TVET must produce.
The question before policymakers is simple:
Do we want TVET schools that only teach theory?
Or do we want TVET institutions that train and produce for the nation?
The answer to that question will shape Ghana’s skills, industry, and economy for decades to come.
The author is the Principal of the Accra Technical Training Centre (ATTC) and President of the Conference Of Principals Of Technical Institutions ( COPTI)
