TVET Gains Momentum in Ahafo as Enrolment Surges Past 3,000
Enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions in the Ahafo Region has seen a remarkable increase, with more than 3,000 students admitted for the 2025/2026 academic year, signalling growing confidence in skills-based education.
The Ahafo Regional Director of the TVET Service, Mr Seth Asare-Bediako, described the development as a major boost to the region’s human capital development, attributing it to sustained public education and reforms aimed at changing negative perceptions about technical and vocational training.
For many years, TVET was widely regarded as a last resort for academically weak students. However, Mr Asare-Bediako said deliberate efforts by the government and stakeholders have gradually dismantled this misconception, positioning TVET as a viable and respectable pathway to employment, entrepreneurship, and industrial growth.
“TVET is no longer viewed with suspicion. It is increasingly recognised as a critical engine for Ahafo’s socio-economic transformation,” he noted.
He explained that parents, guardians, policymakers, and development partners now better appreciate the role of technical skills in reducing youth unemployment and supporting local industries.
Mr Asare-Bediako highlighted notable individuals from the region whose success stories are helping to reshape attitudes. Among them is Alex Boampong, Chief Executive Officer of Alexiboam Construction Limited, whose company employs trained artisans, and Eric Jay, a fashion entrepreneur based in Goaso, whose enterprise continues to absorb skilled youth and demonstrate the strong earning potential of vocational training.
The Regional Director made these remarks at a one-day capacity-building workshop held in Bechem, which brought together 260 teaching and non-teaching staff from TVET institutions across the region.
The workshop focused on strengthening institutional capacity and professionalism, with participants taken through key areas such as ethical standards, instructional planning, organisational structures, public procurement procedures, financial management, and effective record-keeping.
According to Mr Asare-Bediako, the training is expected to improve efficiency in teaching and learning, enhance accountability, and raise professional standards across TVET institutions in the region.
He also reflected on what he described as a long-standing national policy error that placed excessive emphasis on grammar education at the expense of technical and vocational skills, a situation he said has hindered industrial expansion and worsened graduate unemployment.
“Technical and vocational education is not for the less intelligent. That false belief has cost the nation dearly,” he stressed.
Representatives of various institutions, including Goaso TSC Technical Institute and Bechem Technical Institute, praised the workshop, describing it as timely and impactful in improving both instructional delivery and administrative performance.
Several public and private TVET schools across the Ahafo Region were represented at the event
