Retool existing Technical and Vocational Institution

Rev. Kwesi Nkum Wilson, a Senior Lecturer of the Department of Psychology and Education, University of Education Winneba (UEW), has said it was about time the Central Government retooled existing Technical and Vocational Institutions and the Educational system, and made it more diversified to make provision for learners with interest and aspirations. The plain truth is that not all young men and women should be in the University and for that matter my humble appeal is that the government’s decision to build 200 secondary schools is laudable, an at least 50 of it should be purely technical/vocational base, he said. Rev. Nkum Wilson who is also the UEW Chaplain, stated this in a speech at the 15th Anniversary Day Celebration of H and E (Henry and Efua) Educational Centre at Winneba. The Day way on the theme: “Quality Education Delivery in the 21st Century: The Role of Stakeholders”. Defining quality education, Rev. Nkum said as a nation we needed a type of education that would transform our outlook and fire our imaginations, especially in problem solving, knowledge and understanding gained from our institutions and not sluggish, motionless, inactive, passive and indolent. “Why should one go through our educational system up to the tertiary level and yet proudly belong to an association called unemployed graduate association of Ghana, this is a scar on the conscience of society, members of this association have failed themselves, their families and the nation” they must seek re-education, he added. According to him, investment in vocational education had been very minimal, and the government should establish at least a well furnished technical and vocational school in all the districts and municipal assemblies. Rev. Nkum said when such vocational and technical education was placed, it would go a long way help the nation to develop in the proper direction. “There is a need to change the mode of educational delivery, we are subjecting these young one to reproduction of facts to the detriment of applying the knowledge acquired in daily life hence teaching and learning should be experiential in both ways but not monologue”. The Senior Lecturer said no wonder some of the university graduates could not make a living out of the knowledge they had gained throughout their education and wanted somebody to help them make a living, He advocated the development of a responsive curriculum that would give the requisite skills needed for the twenty-first century Ghanaian. Madam Hannah Efua Mills-Robertson, Chief Executive Officer of the school, said it was established in 2,000 with seven children, a teacher and an attendant, but currently the school has a total number of 791 students/ pupils, made up of 227 pupils in pre-school, 371 primary school pupils, 193 Junior High School students, with 37 teaching and 16 non-teaching staff. She said since the school commenced the sitting the BECE five years, they had always recorded 100 percent with best grades, and had also excelled in other disciplines, including, quizzes, debates and spelling competitions. He expressed her profound gratitude to personalities, including his late brother Henry Acquah Mills-Robertson and C.C. Mills-Robertson for their foresight, vision and relentless efforts towards the establishment which had brought the school that far.

Source: GNA