DRAFT TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND ...

DRAFT
TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING (TVET)
SECTOR MAPPING
For Learn4Work
Dutch Schokland Programme on TVET
Report prepared by
Henry Fram Akplu, Ph.D. &
John Yaw Amankrah
December 2008

ii
LIST OF ACRONYMS
BECE
COTVET
DFID
DP
ECOWAS
EMIS
ESP
GETFund
GPI
GRATIS
HND
HOTCATT
ICCES
ISSER
JICA
JSH
MDGs
MoESS
MoFA
MoMYE
NACVET
NDPC
NEA
NERIC
NFED
NGO
NVTI
OIC
SHS
SPED
SSSCE
TTI
TVET
UNESCO
YMCA
YWCA
Basic Certificate of Education
Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training
Department for International Development (UK)
Development Partners
Economic Community of West African States
Education Management Information System
Education Strategic Plan
Ghana Education Trust Fund
Gender Parity Index
Ghana Regional Appropriate Technology and Industrial Service
Higher National Diploma
Hotel, Catering and Tourism Training Institute
Integrated Community Centres for Employable Skills
Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research
Japan International Cooperation Agency
Junior High School (formerly Junior Secondary School, [JSS])
Millennium Development Goals
Ministry of Education, Science and Sports
Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Ministry of Manpower, Youth and Employment (formerly Ministry
of Manpower Development and Employment [MMDE])
National Coordinating Committee for Technical and Vocational
Education and Training
National Development Planning Commission
National Education Assessment
National Education Reform Implementation Committee
Non-Formal Education
Non-Governmental Organization
National Vocational Training Institute
Opportunities Industrialization Centre
Senior High School (formerly Senior Secondary School, [SSS])
Special Education
Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination
Technical Training Institute
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
Young Men’s Christian Association
Young Women’s Christian Association

iii
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION 1
1.1 Problem and Purpose 1
1.2 The Context for the Schokland TVET Programme in Ghana 1
2.0 THE TVET SECTOR 2
2.1 Facts and Figures 2
2.2 Policies 5
2.3 Education Sector [Strategic] Plan 7
2.4 Main Actors 8
2.5 Key Donors and their Interventions 9
2.6 Demand and Supply 10
2.7 Issues 12
3.0 THE LABOUR MARKET 13
3.1 Facts and Figures 13
3.2 Formal/Informal Economy 16
3.3 Employment/Unemployment Rates 16
3.4 Main Actors (Private Sector, Supporting Agencies) 18
3.5 Transition from School to Work 19
3.6 Demand and Supply from the Labour Market 21
3.7 Issues 23
4.0 Lessons Learned from Previous Interventions 23
5.0 Practical and Policy Challenges 24
6.0 SWOT of Key Actors of TVET and Labour Market 24
7.0 Opportunities for Improvement and Harmonization 25
8.0 The way Forward: Recommendations and Niches 26
CONCLUSION 27
REFERENCES 29
ANNEXES 30

iv
LIST OF TABLES
Page
Table 2.1 Enrolment Profiles, Levels of Education 3
Table 2.2 Gender Parity in Enrolments, Basic Education 4
Table 2.3 Gender Representation in NVTIs, TTIs, and Polytechnics 4
Table 2.4 Government Expenditure on Education 5
Table 2.5 Formal and Public (Non-Tertiary) TVET Institutions, 2007/08 11
Table 3.1
Distribution of the Work Force by Occupation and Gender
(15+) 13
Table 3.2 Employed Persons Aged 15 years and Older 14
Table 3.3 Paid and Unpaid Workers in the Manufacturing Sector 14
Table 3.4 Distribution of Job Vacancies Declared by Gender 15
Table 3.5 Reasons Why Vacancies Existed in Establishments
(Precentages) 16
Table 3.6 Employment Structure by Status, 2001-2005 16
Table 3.7 Unemployment by Age Groups, 2000 17
Table 3.8 Profiles of the Unemployed Youth in Ghana’s Labour Market,
2001 (Percentages) 17
Table 3.9 Hopes and Aspirations of the Unemployed Youth in Ghana,
2003 (Percentages) 18

1.0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 Problem and Purpose
From global and national policy perspectives, the provision of technical and vocational and
education and training (TVET) is viewed as a necessary intervention in attempts to empower
people, reduce poverty, and realize the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The logic
is that if people, especially the youth, are equipped with employable skills with which they
can access labour markets, then the incidence of unemployment, poverty, and other
undesirable consequences of social and economic exclusion would be reduced. Concerned
about the plight of marginalized and vulnerable groups in developing countries and the slow
progress towards the achievement of the MDGs, the Government of Netherlands launched the
Pact of Schokland which will broaden Dutch efforts in development cooperation beyond the
traditional agencies to include civil society organizations and the business sector. “Improving
Access to Good Technical and Vocational and Education and Training in Developing
Countries” is one component of the Pact. Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, and Zambia have been
selected under the Pact for North-South cooperation among vocational education providers
towards capacity building and improvement in access to good-quality TVET. As a first step,
a mapping exercise is to be undertaken in the four countries for the development of relevant
and coordinated partnership activities.
The overall objective of the mapping exercise is to describe the policy environment
for TVET provision in the selected countries, actors involved, the current state of
TVET demand and supply, achievements, student transition from school to work,
intervention strategies in place for labour market development, challenges, strenghts
and weaknesses, opportunities and threats, and lessons learned from past
interventions. The mapping exercise in Ghana will lead to the identification of
options for entry and support to the TVET sector within the context of the Dutch
Schokland TVET Programme with special focus on marginalised and disadvantaged
groups.
1.2 Socio-Economic Context of TVET in Ghana
Ghana, one of the five English-speaking members of the Economic Community of West
African States (ECOWAS) occupies a land space of 238,533 square kilometres and recorded
a population of 18.9 million people during the 2000 census. The country’s population
growth rate is about 2.7%, having dropped from a high of 3.0 but still far from replacement
rate. Within four decades (1960-2000) the country’s population virtually tripled in size from
the 1960 figure of 6.7 million and recent estimates put the population at 21.1 million in 2005
(Ghana Statistical Service, 2005 and 2006). A country profile of Ghana providing highlights
of demographic and socio-economic indicators is presented in Appendix A1 to Appendix A5
for further understanding of the context of the programme.
According to the 2000 census figures, females accounted for 50.52% of the population but
2005 estimates put the female population at 50.49% of the total. Also, approximately 41% of
Ghana’s population consists of children below 15, and youth in the 15-24 age range constitute
18 per cent of the total population while people in the 25-59 age range account for about 33
per cent (Ghana Statistical Service, 2006, pp. 3-4). The country is still in a transition from
high fertility to low fertility, and its population growth is expected to run into the latter part of
21 st century even though replacement fertility level might be reached by 2035.

2
During the past four decades, the urban population has grown rapidly from 23% of the total in
1960 to 43.61% of the 2000 population (Ghana Statistical Services, 2005). This rural-urban
drift is not only putting pressure on education and other social services in urban areas but is
also creating an urban unemployment crisis that is difficult to contain through skill training
and job creation.
The structure of Ghana’s economy has not changed much since the country attained
independence in 1957. The country still depends on the export of primary commodities such
as cocoa, gold, diamonds, manganese, and wood products. Some impressive gains have been
made in the non-traditional export sector which again consists mainly of handicrafts and
unprocessed food items such as pineapples, mangoes, yam, pepper, and bananas. Per capita
GDP increased from US$271 .4 in 2001 to an estimated US$492.4 in 2005 (Ghana Statistical
Service, 2007). As would be expected, there are gender, regional, and rural-urban disparities
in incomes and other socio-economic indicators.
Ghana is committed to the achievement of the MDGs and aims to attain a middle-income
status by the year 2015. Of particular interest to the Schokland Programme is the use of
TVET to achieve MDGs #1, 3, and 8, which are poverty reduction, gender equality and
empowerment of women, and the development of a global partnership for development.
The next two major divisions of this report review the TVET sector and labour markets
respectively, each ending with emergent issues. Subsequently, the reviews draws lessons
from previous interventions, best practices, and makes recommendations for the way forward.
2.0 THE TVET SECTOR IN GHANA
The provision of TVET cuts across several government ministries with the Ministry of
Education, Science and Sports (MoESS) and the Ministry of Manpower, Youth and
Employment (MoMYE) being the dominant providers. The main delivery institutions are the
informal apprenticeship system, public and private vocational training institutes, and public
technical institutes, and the polytechnics. Ghana has an extensive informal apprenticeship
system that absorbs a large number of young people who are not able to continue schooling
after basic education. The major areas covered by informal apprenticeship include autobody
works, motor vehicle mechanics, masonry, carpentry and joinery, dressmaking, hairdressing,
refrigeration and air-conditioning, tailoring, and weaving (e.g. Kente weaving). There is no
national control over, supervision of, or mechanism for capturing data on the informal
apprenticeship system. Until the New (National) Apprenticeship Programme is launched no
reliable data can be provided on enrolment in informal apprenticeship, yet we know that it is
the largest supplier of skill training in Ghana. Data on enrolment in TVET is limited to
formal TVET, and even then, no comprehensive data is available on private TVET.
2.1 Facts and Figures: Enrolment in TVET
Three categories of facts and figures are presented to give a brief view of TVET in Ghana
focusing on: (a) enrolments, (b) gender parity, (d) special needs education, and (d)
expenditure on education in general and TVET in particular.
To put enrolment in TVET in a proper perspective, it is desirable to begin with an overview
of enrolment in formal education institutions which lay the foundation for formal TVET
provision. Table 1 gives an overview of enrolment at various level of education in Ghana.
Enrolment in TVET in the Ghana context applies only to the formal TVET system which
consists of public and private registered institutions. Some private TVET institutions register
with NVTI, others with the Ghana Education Service and still others with NACVET. These

3
authorities are not able to monitor and collate enrolment and other service delivery
information for private TVET institutions.
Formal TVET begins only after basic education, that is, after the completion of Junior High
School. In the public system, the main TVET institutions are the Technical Training
Institutes (TTIs), the National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) centres, and the
polytechnics. The figures in the 2007/2008 column of Table 2.1 show that the TTIs and the
NVTI centres together enrolled only 25,092 trainees, representing only 0.055 percent of total
enrolment in Senior High School. Enrolment in TTIs was a paltry 0.04 percent of total
enrolment in Senior High School. At the tertiary level, polytechnic enrolment represents
38.4% of total enrolment in both public and private universities. The obvious conclusion is
that the public education system channels less than 1% of post-basic education enrolment into
formal TVET.
There are hidden social disparities and discrimination in the post-basic education channelling
of students. Junior High School graduates who do not go to public schools do not benefit
from public support for education in terms of fee waivers, subsidies, educational facilities,
trained teachers, textbooks, and the like. They do not enjoy the benefits of the GETFund to
which their parents contribute indirectly when they spend on goods and services. Even
students enrolled in NTVI centres do not currently benefit from the kind of government
support given to students enrolled in mainstream Ministry of Education, Science and Sports
institutions. With a transition rate of just about 31.5% (MoESS, 2008, p. 50) at least 65% of
Junior High School graduates will not make to the Senior High School, meaning they must go
to NVTI, private TVET institutes, or disappear into the informal economy (including informal
apprenticeship).
Table 2.1: Enrolment Profile, Levels of Education
Level of Education Type of 2004/2005 2007/2008
Institution Enrolment Enrolment
Total 778,109 1,262,264
Kindergarten % Private 38.8% 17.1%
Total 3,077,489 3,622,724
Primary Private 631,576 631,942
Total 1,048,367 1,224,964
Junior Sec/High School Private 195,137 209,473
Total 333,002 454,681
Senior Sec/High School Private N/A 58,842
Public TVET (MoESS & NVTI)
Technical Training Institutes (MoESS only) Total 21,424 18,432*
NVTI Institutions (MoMYE)** Total 7,297 6,660**
Special Education Institutions (MoESS Total 2,666 3,315
only)
TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS 2004/05 2006/07
Polytechnics (all public) Total 24,983 28,695
Professional Institutes Total 1,361 4,350
Total 73,408 88,445
Universities Private 3,470 18,278
Source: Constructed from Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (2008). Education
Sector Performance Report, 2008.
Notes: * This figure is for 2006/2007
** Figures obtained from NVTI, MoMYE

4
Gender disparity in access to education is narrowing at the Basic Education level in Ghana as
Table 2.2 shows. At the Kindergarten level the Gender Parity Index is close to 1.00.
However, the index drops marginally as the level of education goes up, meaning a higher
proportion of females drop out of school than males. Those who drop out are likely to
disappear into the informal economy.
Table 2.2: Gender Parity in Enrolments, Basic Education
Level of Education
Gender Parity Index (GPI) Trends
2003/04 2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08
Kindergarten 0.98 0.98 1.03 0.99 0.98
Primary 0.93 0.93 0.93 0.96 0.96
Junior Sec/High School 0.88 0.88 0.93 0.91 0.92
Source: Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (2008). Education Sector Performance
Report, 2008.
The gender gap is much wider in the NVTIs and TTIs than it is in the Senior High School.
Between 2004/05 and 2007/08 academic years female enrolment in Senior High Schools
ranged between 42.4% and 49.5% (in 2005/2006 only) of the total but appears to hover
around 44%. Table 2.3 shows that in the main public TVET institutions, female enrolment is
very low, accounting for a maximum of approximately 29% in the NVTI centres, 17% in the
TTIs, and 30% in the polytechnics. The higher female enrolment ratio in the NVTI again
emphasizes the fact that females have better representation where public benefits are lower.
The higher female enrolment ratio at the polytechnic can be explained from the fact that
polytechnics recruit mainly from the senior high school where females are better represented.
However, female enrolment in polytechnics is mainly in the applied arts and business
subjects, not in engineering and science-related fields. In general, enrolment in TVET subject
is gender biased; some trades and courses are dominated by males while others are dominated
by females. Catering and hospitality, dressmaking or fashion, hairdressing, and secretarial
programmes are dominated by females while electrical, electronic, the building trades, and all
mechanical engineering-related fields are heavily dominated by males (see Appendix B4).
Table 2.3: Gender Representation in NVTIs, TTIs, and Polytechnics
Type of TVET
2005/06 2006/07
Institution Male Female Total Male Female Total
NTVI Centres (38) 5,512 2,085 7,297 4,943 1,717 6,660
MoMYE
% Female 28.6% 25.8%
Technical Training 16,933 3,370 20,303 13,467 3,081 18,432
Institutes (MoESS)
16.5 16.7
Polytechnics 17,156 7,508 24,664 20,229 8,466 28,695
% Female 30.4% 29.5%
Sources: Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (2008). Education Sector Performance
Report, 2008, p. 133.
NVTI Enrolment Statistics
There are varying estimates of the incidence of children and youth with special needs in
Ghana. One estimate is that about 5% of the population have some sort of disability (Annor
as cited in MoESS, 2008, p. 55). Another is that based on international norms the incidence
of special needs is probably about 10% of the population. While one estimate claims that

5
only about 1% of the 4-16 age group with disabilities had access to education, another
estimate puts the figure at 44%. Whatever the true estimate, there is evidence on the streets
that people with special needs are not adequately catered for in the provision of education and
employment matters. Enrolment in special education institutions indicate that again, females
are under-represented; their enrolment has hovered around 40% of total enrolment of special
needs people from 2001/02 to 2007/2008 (MoESS, 2008, p. 57).
Table 2.4 shows the distribution of Government expenditure on education (Ministry of
Education, Science and Sports institutions only). Only 0.83% of the total education budget
went to TVET. The President’s Committee on Review of Education Reforms in Ghana
(2002, p. 91) alarmed at the neglect of, and low budgetary allocation to TVET, recommended
that “Specifically, MOE should increase its allocation to TVET from about 1% to at least
7.5% and MMDE from about 12% to 20%.” Rather than increase, the budgetary allocation
has decreased in percentage terms. The restricted channelling of students into TVET and the
very low budgetary allocation to the sub-sector confirms UNESCOs (2003) observation that
“skill acquisition in both the formal and informal sectors has very little Government support
as compared to the regular education system.”
Table 2.4: Government Expenditure on Education, 2007
Sub-Sector Investment Total %
Pre-School 0 36,703,878 4.23%
Primary 0 375,720,151 43.44%
JSS 0 175,090,377 20.19%
SSS 1,166,817 67,290,654 7.76%
NFED 0 5,725,098 0.66%
SPED 13,031 3,894,322 0.45%
T eacher Education 19,999 33,188,794 3.83%
TVET 44,316 7,192,557 0.83%
Tertiary 101,451 159,425,579 18.39%
Subvented Agencies 1,663,654 1,663,654 0.19%
MGM (Investment Only) 238,234 238,234 0.03%
Total 3,247,502 867,133,297 100.00%
Source: Ministry of Education, Science and Sports. (2008). Education Sector
Performance Report, 2008, p.120.
The neglect of public TVET in terms of budgetary and other practical supports has been
raised from time to time but action is hardly taken to change the status quo. The latest inhouse
performance evaluation report acknowledged that the proportion of total
expenditure allocated to TVET (less than 1%) “does not reflect GoG prioritization of
TVET education” (MoESS, 2008, p.120). However, the Education Sector Project is
being restructured to include a TVET component and “it is expected that US$6
million would be allocated to the EdSEP TVET programme in 2009-2010” with
majority of the amount coming from the GETFund (MoESS, 2008, p. 139).
2.2 Policies
Policies that guide or are supposed to guide TVET delivery in Ghana come in various forms:
as part of national development plans; as sector- ministry policies and plans; as laws passed

6
by parliament; as government-commissioned reports backed by White Paper, and as specific
policy directives. The former national development plan, Vision 2020 (1996 – 2000), the
Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy I (2003- 2005), the Ghana Poverty Reduction Strategy II
(2006 - 2009) and, the Draft Medium-Long Term Development Plan (2008-2015) fall in
the first category of policy. All of these plans are supposed to set the tone and direction for
TVET policies at lower levels. For instance, the latest national development plan aims
“To make Ghana a fast growing industrializing economy with more than half
employment in formal non-agricultural sectors by 2015” (NDPC, 2008). To realize
this goal, government will transform the structure of the economy and enhance the
productivity of all resources (including human and physical). One key strategy for
achieving this objective is “Industrializing on the back of modern agriculture” and
another is “Investing in people for enhanced productivity” (NDPC, 2008). The key
manufacturing sub-sectors targeted for focused development are: food and beverages;
textiles and garments; metal fabrication, plastic products, electronics and ICT; wood
and furniture; and pharmaceuticals (NDPC, 2008, p.60). By coincidence, the national
TVET policy which had been developed earlier devoted a chapter to building human
resource base for increased manufacturing and industrialization, listing all the targeted
sub-sectors except pharmaceuticals.
Sector-ministry policies that have bearing on TVET include MoESS’s Education Strategic
Plan (ESP) and the forthcoming National Education Reform Implementation Committee
(NERIC); and MoMYE’s Youth Employment Implementation Guidelines (GoG, as
cieted in King, Korboe, & Plamer, 2006). Existing laws which guide TVET delivery
include the NVTI Act of 1970; the National Board for Professional and Technician
Examinations (NABPTEX) Act, 1994 (Act 492), the Children’s Act, 1998, the
COTVET Act, 2006 (Act 718), and the Polytechnic Act, 2007 (Act 745). Then there
is the National Policy on TVET which has not been gazetted as an official policy
document but whose main contents were integrated into the Report of the President’s
Committee on Review of Education Reforms in Ghana (2002) with a White Paper to
support.
So, though Ghana has developed a comprehensive national policy on TVET, the
policy document itself has remained in “Draft” form, yet the substantive element of
the policy, the establishment of the Council for Technical and Vocational Education
and Training has been passed into law, the COTVET Act. As the Draft TVET Policy
has no statutory status, and as existing conflicting legal mandates exist, the power of
the policy is uncertain. In fact, conflicting legal mandates and conflicting sectorministry
policies may undermine the operation of COTVET when it begins to
function.
The main elements of the draft policy which COTVET will implement are: the establishment
of an apex body charged with the supervision and coordination of all aspects of TVET in
Ghana, the establishment of a national TVET qualification framework (see Appendix B4)
which seeks to eliminate the multiplicity of testing and certification systems in the TVET

7
sector (see Appendix B6), and the adoption of the Competency-Based Training (CBT)
approach throughout the TVET system.
An Executive Director has been appointed for COTVET and JICA has assisted in developing
detailed plans for the execution of the Council’s mandate. When COTVET starts functioning,
it has a road map to follow, but the lessons from the failure of NACVET make the following
observations and advice in the Education Sector Performance Report 2008 most timely and
appropriate:
For COTVET to succeed it is essential that the two main TVET-delivering ministries,
MoESS and MoMYE, harmonise their efforts and promote inter-ministerial
cooperation. Furthermore, there needs to be strong engagement with the large
number of formal private providers (the private TVET institutions account for over
twice the number of public TVET institutions) as well as the large informal
apprenticeship system. …………COTVET must be vested with real authority and not
merely be a consultative agency. COTVET must be allowed to make decisions and
ultimately control the allocation of resources for TVET. Government needs to
empower COTVET so that it succeeds where NACVET failed. ……………COTVET
should coordinate and management any future external support to TVET in Ghana
from development partners or NGOs and should serve as the counterpart agency for
all external assistance. Development partners should no longer set up bilateral
relationships between themselves and specific agencies or departments (MoESS,
2008, p. 141).
Until COTVET begins to assert its legal mandate to “co-ordinate and oversee all
aspects of technical and vocational education and training in the country,” the sector
will remain as it has been for decades – fragmented and uncoordinated in policy
making and implementation.
2.3 Education Strategic Plan
The Education Strategic Plan 2003-2015 is in two volumes and was developed in 2002.
Volume 1 describes policies, targets, and strategies while Volume II describes the Work
Programme. The Plan outlines ten policy goals which are clustered into four areas of focus:
(a) Equity and Access; (b) Quality Improvement; (c) Educational Management, and (d)
Science, Technology and TVET. The Ministry assures that in fulfilment of its mission, it will
provide the following:
(a) Facilities to ensure that all citizens, irrespective of age, gender, tribe, religion and
political affiliation, are functionally literate and self-reliant;
(b) Basic education for all;
(c) Opportunities for open education for all;
(d) Education and training for skill development with emphasis on science technology
and creativity; and,
(e) Higher education for the development of middle and top-level manpower
Requirements (GoG, 2002, p. 7)
Regarding TVET, the Plan aims to “Extend and Improve technical and vocational
education and training” (GoG, 2002, p. 8). Specifically, the ESP aims to:
To extend and support opportunities for young people, including out-of-school
children and 'drop outs', to engage in technical and vocational opportunities.

8
The aim is to achieve this by increased diversification and greater relevance
to 'the real workplace' in the technical and vocational curriculum and by
increasing the number of Technical Vocational Institutes and improving
Polytechnics. (GoG, 2002, p.14).
On gender, the ESP aims to “Provide girls with equal opportunities to access the full
cycle of education” and to achieve that the Ministry “aims to implement a number of
strategies targeted specifically at increasing female participation in the education
sector, in terms of enrolments, retention and completion rates.” (GoG, 2002, p.16).
The Ministry has issued the Report of the National Education Reform
Implementation Committee (NERIC) which worked out the details for the
implementation of the ESP. Under the reform, programmes at the TTIs will take four
years just like the SHS duration (MoESS, October 2007). The subjects available in
the SHS technical and vocational programmes and the TTI remain virtually the same
as they were in the past, except that TTIs will now include the core subjects in the
SHS curriculum so that their graduates can progress to the polytechnic. It is
interesting to note that while ICT (including Word Processing and Spreadsheet) are
among the core SHS subjects, typewriting remains an elective in the Secretarial and
Accounting clusters. The TTI curriculum appears to be more tertiary-education
driven than industry-driven though it is expected to use CBT methods.
2.4 Main Actors in the TVET Sector
The main actors in the TVET sector are training providers, technical and financial assistance
providers, certification, supervision, and regulatory agencies, and service support groups.
They fall into the following six categories:
(a) Government ministries
(b) Artisan, trade and professional associations
(c) Private proprietors of vocational training institutions, including NGOs
(d) Industry groups
(e) Development Partners
(f) Certification, supervisory, and regulatory bodies
Government ministries such as the Ministry of Education, Science and Sports, Ministry of
Manpower, Youth and Employment, Ministry of Food and Agriculture and the Ministry of
Tourism and Diasporan Relations are all providers of TVET; they own, fund, and manage
training institutions; they also make policies for skill training within their political mandates.
Artisans, trade and professional associations are the largest providers of skill training in the
TVET system. The associations include the Ghana Tailors and Dressmakers Association, the
Ghana Hairdressers Association, and the Association of Garages. These associations provide
skill training through the informal apprenticeship system in areas such as tailoring and
dressmaking, hairdressing, autobody works, automobile mechanics, masonry, electrical and
electronic repair, air-conditioning and refrigeration, and carpentry. Together this group
probably provides about 80% of the skill training needs of young people in Ghana – literate
and illiterate.
Private proprietors of vocational training institutions (for profit and not-for-profit) may be
individuals or organizations. As these providers may register with the NVTI, MoESS,
Registrar-General and other government agencies, it is difficult to establish the actual

9
numbers. Religious bodies such as the Roman Catholic, the E. P. Church, and the
Presbyterian Church of Ghana all have vocational training institutions. A UNESCO survey
(2003) that sampled 30 vocational institutions in Ghana found that one third of them were
owned by religious bodies. The Presbyterian Church has a special unit called Vocational
Training for Females which is an advocacy group, a training provider, and promoter of nontraditional
female skills training for females. Other NGOs that are active in the TVET sector
are the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA), the Young Women’s Christian
Association (YWCA), the Ghana Federation of the Disabled (and its affiliates), and the
Opportunities Industrialization Centre (OIC).
Industry groups such as the Association of Ghana Industries and the Ghana Employers’
Association are becoming active in the TVET sector. Previously they were passive providers
of opportunities for industrial attachment (or work-based learning) but now they are engaged
in negotiations and in the piloting of more structured industrial attachment with tertiary TVET
institutions.
2.5 Key Donors and their Interventions
The TVET sector was left out of the Educational Reform programme that began in 1987.
With the support of the World Bank and other donors, government focused attention on the
vocationalisation of the secondary school which prepared students for higher education rather
than the labour market. Donor involvement in the TVET sector has been on a low scale
compared to other areas of development. A few notable donor interventions that have
occurred in the last decade are described briefly.
Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). JICA gave technical and financial
assistance for the development of a Master Plan for Technical Education in 2000 -2001.
Though JICA’s plan was not implemented, it made a major impact on the development of a
National TVET Policy for Ghana. For example, the policy of introducing competency-based
training and a national qualification framework with the supporting structures were informed
by the JICA Master Plan. Since 2004, JICA has set up a Technical and Vocational Education
and Training Support (TVETS) Project which facilitated the passage of the COTVET Law,
developed detailed implementation plans for COTVET, and has been piloting CBT in
vocational training institutions and the polytechnic.
Royal Netherlands Government. Between 1999 and 2003 the Dutch Government assisted
Ghana by re-equipping and refurbishing 15 technical institutes and 5 secondary/technical
schools under the VOTEC Resource Centres Project (Duodu, 2006). Since 2004, several
Nuffic projects have been going on in all the polytechnics of Ghana. The Leadership and
Management Capacity Building project covers all the ten polytechnics. In addition, CBT
curricula are being piloted in four fields in the polytechnics: Agriculture Engineering,
Fashion Design, Building Construction, and Automobile Engineering. The third major Dutch
intervention is in the establishment of the Ghana Skills Development Centre (GSDC) at
Tema. The GSDC was initiated by Vlisco Helmond B.V. of Netherlands and its local
subsidiary Texstyles Ghana Ltd as a public-private partnership intervention that brought
together Development Partners (including Netherlands and UK’s DfID), the Government of
Ghana, and about 15 local industries to establish an industry-driven skill training facility that
would focus on hands-on-skills to meet the needs of industry.
The World Bank. The World Bank funded the Vocational Skills and Informal Sector
Support Project (VSP). The project aimed among other things “to redirect both public and
private vocational training institutions towards the provision of short, focused, practical,
competency-based and demand-driven training for people in the informal sector in five
selected occupational areas, namely: Electrical installation, Carpentry and Joinery,

10
Dressmaking, Refrigeration and Air-conditioning, and Blocklaying and Concreting” (Duodu,
2006). The project provided training to master craftsmen and women and apprentices. In
addition, it made available modern working tools and equipment that were sold to
apprentices, participating institutions, master craftsmen and women and the trade associations
involved at low cost.
Department for International Development (DFID). DFID and other donors have
produced a Harmonisation Action Plan based on the Paris Declaration. DFID supports
sectoral programmes which includes education. TVET forms part of British development
assistance which includes budgetary support, but the GoG is left to decide how to use it and it
is expected that some of the funds would be used for TVET. DFID is concerned with skill
development in a broader sense than TVET.
International Labour Organisation (ILO). ILO-‘s Ghana’s involvement in TVET related to
the broad programme objective of Time Bound Programme for the Elimination of the Worst
Forms of Child Labour. ILO’s involvement is centred on (a) education depending upon age
and interest of the child, and (b) skills and vocational training.
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD of the U.N.). The IFADsupported
Rural Enterprise Project is establishing and expanding self-employment
and micro-enterprise through vocational training and skill development interventions.
During the short field work for this review, NVTI reported that it was being assisted by the
Danish Hairdressers Association to develop CBT curricula and train hairdressers for
improved quality service delivery. The Danish group comes to Ghana for short periods to
conduct its programmes. Also, NVTI gets sponsorship from India and China for some of
their instructors to upgrade their skills for short periods in those countries.
2.6 Demand and Supply
The demand for TVET in Ghana is strong but the supply side is weak and has low capacity.
There is strong demand for skill training, especially at the artisan, craft, and technician levels.
This strong demand is due primarily to the size of the youthful population of Ghana and the
growing expansion in universal basic education. According to the 2000 population census the
0-14 year age group constituted 44.3% of the total population, and the growth rate was 2.7
(see Appendix B). As Junior High School enrolment has reached the 1.2 million level, it
means that on average about 400,000 young people will complete basic education each year
and must move on to Senior High School (SHS) or seek skill training for future employment.
About 65% of that number cannot enter SHS. Then there are the dropouts from basic and the
cumulated numbers from previous years whose options are skill training or entry into the
labour market without skills. Among those who complete SHS, only about 40% will enter the
university or the polytechnic; the rest must enter the labour market or seek some form of skill
training. The overwhelming demand for education and training at all levels has distorted the
difference between social demand for TVET and economic demand for TVET. Some
institutions talk of “demand-driven programmes” by which they mean programmes which
parents and students are willing to pay for.
One disturbing aspect of the demand for skill training is that the quality of basic academic
skills (literacy and numeracy) with which prospective trainees seek admission is very low, as
reported in the Education Sector Performance Report, 2008:
Thus, the effective level of literacy (e.g. proficiency in English on the NEA) achieved
is 26.1% of the 85% of the population that attained P6. This is 12.3%. Thus less

11
than 25% of Ghana’s youth reach proficiency levels for P6 English, and 10% attain
proficiency in P6 mathematics (MoESS, 2008, p. 16).
From the demand side, the quantity is overwhelming while the input quality is low. The basic
academic skills (literacy and numeracy) are the foundation for successful skill learning, and
deficits brought from the primary school through JHS to post-basic TVET create serious
problems for skill acquisition and the learning of related theory.
The supply side of the TVET sector consists of informal apprenticeship providers (individual
master craftsmen and women and the various trade and professional associations), and formal
public and private TVET training institutions. The informal aspect of the supply side (the
informal apprenticeship system is larger but has not been captured through systematic
documentation. The private ones may be for-profit or not-for-profit. As the private providers
register with different government ministries and bodies, their actual numbers are not certain.
Table 2.5 shows the main providers that constitute the supply side of formal TVET in Ghana,
as reported in the Education Sector Performance Report (MoESS, 2008). The figures for
private TVET do not reflect the true picture. Out of 700 questionnaires sent out by the
Education Management Information System (EMIS), only 273 (130 public and 143 private)
responded, meaning “there is much information that is not currently being captured” (MoESS,
2008, p. 131) especially on private TVET in the country. Also, the NVTI reported having
337 registered private vocational training institutes and 160 public ones (Personal
Communication, 27/11/08). There could be overlaps between the survey results obtained by
the EMIS and the registrations undertaken by the NVTI.
In general, the supply side of the TVET sector is weak due to decades of neglect and lack of
government support (UNESCO, 2003; Report of the President’s Committee on Review of
Education Reforms in Ghana, 2002). The weaknesses are numerous but the major ones are:
inadequate capacity of existing institutions; inadequate supply of consumable materials used
in training, obsolete training equipment; poor infrastructure; teaching staff who lack practical
skills and work experience; outdated textbooks and curricula; and weak links with industry.
The Education Sector Performance Report 2008 (MoESS, 2008) concluded that
“Infrastructure in TVET institutions continues to be poor with only 80% having functional
electricity.” In short, the supply side of the TVET sector is not able to cope with the demand
for skill training from learners and also produce the quality that industry needs – because of
infrastructural and resource constraints.
Table 2.5: Formal and Public (Non-tertiary) TVET Institutions, 2007/2008
Ownership/Location
Ministry of Education,
Science and Sports
Ministry of Manpower,
Youth and Employment
Ministry of Food and
Agriculture (MoFA)
Type of Institution
Number
2006/2007 2007/2008
GES Technical institutes 24 25
NVTI Centres 28 21
Integrated Community Centres for
31 35
Employable Skills (ICCES)
Social Welfare Centres 11 13
Leadership Training Institutes 7 9
Opportunities Industrialisation
Centre (OIC)
1 1
Community Development Centres 22 22
Agriculture Training Institutes (Farm
1 1
Institutes)

12
Ministry of Roads and Roads & Transport Training Centre 0 0
Transport
GRATIS Foundation 4 4
Private TVET Total Private Institutions* 129* 143*
Source: Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (2008). Education Sector Performance
Report, 2008.
Note: * These figures are from MoESS only and may not include private institutions
registered with NVTI.
2.7 Issues
Some key issues that emerge from the TVET sector analyses and that need to be addressed
include the following:
(a) Gender: A greater proportion of females than males is unable to access SHS and postbasic
TVET. Besides females and males are channelled to gender-stereotyped
programmes. The question is how do we increase female access not only in the
traditional female-dominated trades but diversify skill training options for females while
at the same time ensuring their smooth transition to the labour market.
(b) Training for the formal and/or informal labour markets. Caught between the small formal
and a large informal labour market, how should TVET delivery be designed to meet the
needs of one or both How do we combine self-employment training and training for
paid employment in the formal sector
(c) Given the multiplicity of testing and examination systems in TVET, where does an
incoming TVET partner position itself – to be able to align its vision and philosophy with
what actually happens in training delivery
(d) What new models of training can make a break-through in the examination-oriented
TVET system in Ghana so that training is truly industry or labour-market driven rather
than examination-driven
(e) The DPs tend to work in parallel streams, yet Ghana is trying to build a unified and
coordinated TVET system through the framework of COTVET. For instance, JICA is
piloting CBT in a few NVTI centres, the Accra Technical Training Centre, and Accra
Polytechnic. Will it be possible for incoming Dutch partners and JICA to coordinate their
CBT efforts instead of going their separate ways
(f) The long duration of formal training programmes (three to four years) in the TTIs and
other institutions likely to follow suit are not cost-effective and suitable for poverty
reduction interventions aimed at marginalised groups.
(g) The TVET system in Ghana does not adequately address the general employability skill
needs of trainees and this is undermining the efficacy of TVET. These skills are not
easily amenable to testing in formal examinations. Generic employability skills need to
be emphasized in TVET curricula development for self-employment and paid
employment.
(h) Young people who are not able to make it to the SHS are likely to have low levels of
literacy and numeracy both of which will affect their skill learning and job performance
in the labour market.
(i) Training infrastructure in most TVET institutions in Ghana is in poor state; interventions
will have to take into account investment in basic tools and equipment.
(j) The TVET instructor training system has been diluted with the shift in focus on training
teachers for the JHS and SHS. Teachers trained for the JHS and SHS are unable to teach
hands-on-skills at the TTIs and the VTIs. Reviving instructor training is one main issue
that the TVET system needs to address in order to improve quality.

13
3.0 THE LABOUR MARKET IN GHANA
As Nakanishi (2006) aptly described it in relation to NVTI graduates, the labour market in
Ghana is a “difficult labour market.” The labour absorption capacity of the market is low and
not growing fast enough to cope with the hundreds of thousands of graduates entering the
market at various levels of the educational system. Sub-section 3.1 presents facts and figures
that describe the labour market situation in Ghana.
3.1 Facts and Figures
As pointed out by the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (2008, p. 152),
“Employment and unemployment data in Ghana are either soft or non-existent and this makes
the analysis of employment difficult.” Tables 3.1 to 3.4 and Appendices C1 – C10 give some
insights into the labour market situation in Ghana. The data in the tables point to the
following conclusions:
(a) Agriculture has been the largest employer of both men and women, and though the share
of agricultural employment dropped from 61.8% in 1960 to 53.1% in 2000 (Appendix
C1) (and is still falling), agriculture remains the main source of employment, especially
for illiterate members of the labour force.
(b) Selling (wholesale and retail) and “Production” and transport equipment operation are the
next major sources of employment. Together the two sources provide employment to
about 72% of women in the workforce. Men have a better spread of employment options
than women, even though about 50% of them are in agriculture-related occupations.
(c) The private informal sector (agriculture and non-agriculture) caters for the employment of
about 85% of the labour force in Ghana (see Table 3.2). In the rural areas, about 92% of
the labour force worked in the private informal sector at the time of the Core Welfare
Survey in 2003. In the urban areas, public and private formal employment engaged about
23% of the labour force. On the whole, the probability of someone being employed in the
formal sector (public and private) was only about 14%. This is confirmed by the
Education Sector Performance Report, 2008 (MoESS, 2008, p137): “With only 15
percent of the national workforce employed in the formal economy, a growing informal
sector will have to absorb the growing population of economically active youth.”
Table 3.1 Distribution of the Work Force by Occupation and Gender (15+)
Occupation All Male Female
Professionals, Technical, etc 6.6 8.3 4.8
Administrative & Managerial 0.3 0.4 0.2
Clerical and Related Workers 4.5 7.0 1.9
Sales workers 15.2 8.6 22.0
Service workers 5.8 4.3 7.4
Agric/Animal Husbandry/Forestry/Fishing 50.3 50.8 49.7
Production/Transport Equipment operators 16.0 18.6 13.4
Other workers 1.3 2.0 0.5
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source: 2000 Population Census of Ghana (as cited by Baah & Achakoma, 2007, p. 7)

14
Table 3.2
Employed Persons Aged 15 Years and Older by Employment Status
Ghana (Total
Labour Force)
Rural Labour
Force
Urban Labour
Force
Public 7.2 3.6 12.0
Private formal 6.5 3.0 11.2
Private Informal 84.7 92.0 75.0
Semi-Public 0.4 0.3 0.5
NGOs/Int’l Organisations 0.2 0.1 0.3
Other 1.0 1.1 1.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source: Ghana 2003 Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire Survey Report (as cited in
Baah & Achakoma, 2007, p.6)
Nationwide, the manufacturing sector absorbs only about 6.4% of the labour force (See
Appendix C2). Even with that low labour absorption, it has a huge percentage (47.4) of
unpaid workers (see Table 3.3). Again, the concentration of employment in small-sized
establishments (1 – 29) shows that such employment is in micro- and small enterprises in
the informal sector. The question is how would this influence the design and delivery of
TVET to meet the national development goal of increasing manufacturing on the back of
modern agriculture
Table 3.3 Paid and Unpaid Workers in the Manufacturing Sector
Establishment
Size
Total Workers
Engaged
Unpaid Workers Paid Workers
No % No % No %
84,774 100.0 5,686 6.7 79,088 93.3
30 or more
persons
20 – 29
12,658 100.0 5.431 42.9 7,227 57.1
persons
10 – 19
35,742 100.0 24,298 68.0 11,444 32.0
persons
1 – 9 persons 88,778 100.0 69,764 78.6 19,014 21.4
All 221,952 100.0 105,179 47.4 116,773 52.6
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2007). Economic Survey, 2001 – 2005, p. 21.
To address the problem of youth unemployment, the Government launched a registration
exercise for the unemployed in 2001. From the results of the exercise, Nsowaah-Nuamah
and Amankrah (as cited in Ghana Statistical Services, 2007) estimated that about 230,000
new job seekers enter the labour market every year. This figure appears to be an
underestimate considering that of the 250,000 youth who graduate from Junior Secondary
School each year, about 150,000 have “no opportunity to enter either formal
education/training” and must join the informal economy (King, Korboe, & Palmer, 2006).
Vacancies advertised by businesses give an idea of the demand for labour. In Ghana, jobs
requiring low level skills are not likely to be advertised in the news media because such
positions can be filled through personal contact, district labour offices, or word of mouth.
Advertised vacancies are for relatively higher quality labour requirements. In a job

15
tracking survey, the Ghana Statistical Service (2006) produced a summary of job
vacancies declared by businesses, as presented in Table 3.4. Excluding the managerial and
professional ranks, technicians and associates, machine operators and assemblers, and craft
and related trades workers accounted for 63.5% of the other vacancies put together. In
fact, all the positions advertised (perhaps with the exception of “Elementary Occupation
Workers”) required some form of skill training or occupational preparation, emphasizing
the relevance of TVET for the labour market.
Table 3.4 Distribution of Job Vacancies Declared by Gender
Type of Vacancy Male Female Total
Legislators, Senior Officials and 5,822 2,236 8,058
Managers
Professionals 15,156 8,900 24,056
Technicians and Associates 18,655 10,292 28,947
Clerks 2,282 3,334 3,668
Service, Shops and Market Sales 2,309 1,359 3,668
Workers
Skilled Agric and Fisheries
2,504 771 3,275
Workers
Craft and Related Trades Workers 4,244 810 5,054
Plants and Machine Operators and 6,389 1,573 7,962
Assemblers
Elementary Occupation Workers 9,382 4,164 13,546
Source: Ghana Statistical Service. (2007). Investing in people, investing in jobs:
Keeping the scores. Report on Job Tracking Survey, 2006. p. 21.
The reasons given by employers for the existence of the vacancies (Table 3.5) do not
clearly suggest the lack of applicants with the requisite qualifications; only 6.3% of the
vacancies were attributed to that. This is consistent with the assertion in the Education
Sector Performance Report 2008 (MoESS, 2008, p. 137) that “In general, industry has not
identified skills shortages as a major obstacle to conducting business or to expansion” and
that “There is little evidence of a general shortage of workers with vocational/technical
skills.” However, the empirical basis of this assertion is not clear. There are anecdotal
reports that in the building construction industry, for example, employers are not able to
find competency skilled workers for floor tiling and prefer to recruit from the Republic of
Benin. There may not be shortages of skills in terms of quantity but in terms of quality,
there may be shortages.
Table 3.5: Reasons Why Vacancies Existed in Establishments (Percentages)
Reason %
Identified/earmarked staff member currently under training 2.1
Identified/earmarked person doing National Service 0.5
Identified/earmarked person currently with another employer 0.6
Lack of applicants with the relevant academic qualification 6.3
Lack of applicants with required minimum level of 3.2
experience
Lack of applicants interested in working with this 3.2
establishment
Lack of applicants interested in the type of job 1.7

16
Unattractive salary/wage conditions of service 10.3
Insufficient raw materials/low production 3.6
Government policy constraint 38.9
No budgetary allocation 13.8
Vacancies are the results of recent expansion 7.9
High turnover of staff 1.6
Other 6.4
Source: Ghana Statistical Service. (2007). Investing in people, Investing in Jobs:
Keeping the Scores. Report on Job Tracking Survey, 2006. p.25.
3.2 The Formal/Informal Economy
The labour market in Ghana can be divided into two broad categories: employment in the
informal economy and employment in the formal economy. The informal economy consists
of self-employment in agriculture and private self-employment in non-agricultural economic
activities. A large proportion of the labour force is engaged in agriculture-related occupations
in the informal sector, though the percent share of the agricultural labour force has declined
from 50.7 in 2000 to 47.2 in 2005.
As Table 3.6 shows, informal sector employment has consistently accounted for at least 82%
of total employment increasingly slowly to nearly 84% in 2005. A recent economic survey
reported “an increasing trend towards expansion of the urban informal sector, a decline in
formal sector employment, decline in real wages, an increasing phenomena of people working
and living on the streets majority of whom are young people and growing incidence of the
worst forms of child labour” (Ghana Statistical Services, 2007, p. 73).
Table 3.6 Employment Structure by Status, 2001 - 2005
Employment Status 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
Formal, Public 7.2 7.4 7.2 7.7 7.8
Formal, Private 9.1 8.6 8.4 7.3 7.1
Informal, private (agriculture 82.1 82.4 82.8 83.4 83.5
and non-agriculture)
Semi-public/parastatal 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4 0.4
NGO/International
0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2 0.2
organization
Other 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Number 7,603,961 7,777,548 7,952,135 8,126,722 8,301,307
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2007). Economic Survey, 2001 – 2005
As formal private employment appears to be shrinking rather than expanding, the informal
economy will remain a labour market reality and the surest destination of majority of school
leavers.
3.3 Employment/Unemployment Rates (With Focus on Youth, Gender)
Youth unemployment in Ghana is real; unemployment is more prevalent among the youth
than among the older population. As Table 3.7 shows, unemployment is highest among the

17
15-24 year group. The level of unemployment drops to single digit for both male and female
from 35 years and above. The magnitude of the youth unemployment problem is echoed in
the Education Sector Performance Report 2008 that “Youth constitute the majority of the
unemployed, although they make up only 18 percent of the total population and 37 percent of
the economically active population” (MoESS, 2008, p. 137)
Table 3.7 Unemployment by Age Groups, 2000
Age Group Both Sexes Male Female
15 – 19 17.0 17.0 17.0
20 – 24 19.1 18.7 19.5
25 – 29 14.2 13.8 14.7
30 – 34 9. 9 9.3 10.4
35 – 39 7.8 7.5 8.1
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2005). Population Data Analysis Report, Volume 1:
Socio-Economic and Demographic Trends, p. 105.
Approximately one million people responded during the nationwide registration of the
unemployed and underemployed in 2001 (Nsowaah-Nuamah & Amankrah as cited in Ghana
Statistical Services, 2007, p. 73). The profiles of those registered are summarized in Table
3.8. An astonishing 66.3% of the females who registered had completed basic education but
were unable to continue or complete “pre-tertiary post basic”. This category of females also
constituted roughly 66% of the total number of people registered. Under-employment among
females is visible on the streets and in the open markets of the big cities in Ghana. Hundreds
of women sell very small quantities of items such as oranges, second-hand clothes, toys,
biscuits, bread, apples, sachet water, and the like wherever there is human traffic, including
road construction sites and vehicle toll collection points. One can conclude from the figures
in Table 3.8 that unemployment/underemployment has a great deal to do with illiteracy, early
dropping out of school or not having any skill training.
Table 3.8 Profiles of the Unemployed Youth in Ghana’s Labour Market, 2001 (Percentages
Category of Unemployed Male Female Total
Illiterate, due to early drop out of school or no
schooling at 20.8 23.2 21.6
Have acquired some skill through some vocational
training, especially apprenticeship but need
6.6 3.5 4.7
retraining
Have completed at least basic education but unable
to enter or complete pre-tertiary post basic 2.3 66.3 65.8
Have completed Senior Secondary School but
unable to go further due to failure in English, Maths
and Science at SSSCE
Graduates from universities and polytechnics,
majority first time job seekers without the required
work experience
1.6 5.2 4.7
2.8 0.6 1.2
Street youth, including Kayayei who live, sleep and
work on the streets and others 2.8 2.2 2.5
Total 100.p 100.0 100.0
Number 524,028 378,437 903,437
Source: Nsowaah-Nuamah and Amankrah (as cited in Ghana Statistical Service, 2007, p. 74)

18
That such a large number of unemployed/underemployed women went to register means that
they were not satisfied with their situation. Their desire to work (22.7%), to develop their
own enterprises (50.3%) and to acquire skills through apprenticeship and other forms of
training (19.1%) shown in Table 3.9 suggest the relevance of TVET and business
development interventions.
Table 3.9: Hopes and Aspirations of the Unemployed Youth in Ghana 2003, Percentage
Options Male Female Total
Desirous to work 41.7 22.7 33.7
Desiring enterprise development 30.5 50.3 38.5
Desiring to continue education 9.9 6.2 8.3
Desiring apprenticeship and other skills training 16.3 19.1 17.1
Desiring to travel overseas 0.7 0.4 0.7
Family integration and married life 0.4 1.0 0.9
Other 0.5 0.3 0.4
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Number 524,028 378,830 903,437
Source: Nsowaah-Nuamah and Amankrah (as cited in Ghana Statistical Service (2007, p. 75)
3.4 Main Actors (Private Sector, Supporting Agencies)
The main actors in the labour market in Ghana are the four employers associations, the TUC,
and the District Labour Offices. The four employers associations are the Association of
Ghana Industries, Ghana Employers’ Association, Ghana Chamber of Mines, and the Ghana
National Chamber of Commerce. These association together form the Private Enterprise
Foundation. A brief description is given of each of the four associations.
(a) Association of Ghana Industries (AGI); AGI is the leading voice of the private sector in
Ghana. It was established in 1958 and has over 1000 members. It advocates for policies
that will create employment and “proactively dialogues for demand-driven oriented
vocational training system” (http://www.agighana.org). Indeed AGI is currently engaged
in developing a structured industrial attachment system with the polytechnics. Any
attempt to link TVET with industry in Ghana must necessarily involve the AGI.
(b) Ghana Employers Association (GEA). The GEA was inaugurated in 1959, and is the
association that coordinates and represents employers’ interests in labour matters. Its
members include private and state-owned enterprises.
(c) Ghana Chamber of Mines. The Chamber’s membership consists of firms in the mining
sector. The Chamber has interests in vocational training and has representation on the
NACVET Board.
(d) Ghana National Chamber of Mines. Though the Chamber was founded by an act of
parliament (in 1961) it is a private voluntary association of business operators and
industries. It has a membership of about 1,500.
The TUC is a federation of trade unions covering different occupational areas. They
primarily promote and protect the interests of workers but are also concerned about training
and retraining of workers and have participated in TVET policy development initiatives.
The District Labour Offices are government agencies that facilitate meeting of job seekers
and employers of skilled and non-skilled labour. They collect and publish labour statistics and
may provide insights into labour demand from businesses.

19
3.5 Transition from School to Work. Existing approaches to improve transition
The basic difference between TVET and general academic education is that TVET aims to
prepare people for employment in specific occupational fields, hence the ultimate criterion for
judging the efficacy of TVET is the extent to its graduates get and remain employed.
Traditionally, Ghanaian TVET institutions have measured their success in terms of outputs
such as number of trainees who have passed the end-of-programme examinations for the
award of certificates and diplomas. Institutions have cared less about and not monitored
what happens to their students after graduation. There is therefore, little information on
student transition to the labour market.
In the mid-1990s, the efficacy of vocational education came into question as unemployment
among TVET graduates became visible and chronic. The dilemmas of transition from school
to the world of work stimulated four kinds of awareness which the TVET system is struggling
to institutionalize : (a) correcting the mismatch between curricula and industry needs; (b)
need to monitor the transition to the labour market through tracer studies; (c) need for
structured industrial attachment involving businesses, and (d) training towards selfemployment
rather than towards paid employment only.
The following extract from the Education Sector Performance Report 2008 (MoESS, 2008, p.
136) summarizes the nature of the mismatch between training provided and industry
expectations:
Formal industry in Ghana appears to be generally of the view that TTIs can provide
people with theoretical technical skills but not workplace skills. For example, the
Human Resource Manager of a large textile company in Tema commented about TTI
graduates:
“They have heard about theory but know nothing about practicals. So when
they come you have to train them and in almost everything …. And almost all
industries have the same problem.”
In fact, industry frustration with the public TVET system and the perceived low
quality of graduates coming out of the system led a number of industries to back the
Ghana Industrial Skills Development Centre, an institution separate from any
government ministry and allied to the Association of Ghana Industries.
A few establishments were interviewed during this mapping exercise about the performance
of trainees and graduates from TVET institutions. Here are some excerpts from the
interviews:
Excerpt No.1
In general, when trainees come to GCAA for training or attachment, it takes
them a long time for them to adjust and appreciate what is on the ground.
Because of the deficiencies in training in our schools GCAA prefers taking
Senior High school graduates and rather than taking products from TVET
institutions to train them in the specialised areas in Airport Operations, Fire
and Aviation Security while on the job.
Excerpt No. 2: Electricals
Trainees lack competencies in (1) Wiring, (2) Tracing Fault, (3) Identifying
and knowing the difference between high voltage and low voltage and (4)
knowing how these two voltage systems are handled.

20
Excerpt No. 3: Catering
It is very disappointing to note that NVTI Grade I and II trainees don’t know
basic things like using a metal spoon in stirring in a metal bowl. They are so
deficient that Landing Restaurant has made it a policy not to accept them for
attachment.
Excerpt No. 4: Building Construction
The trainees don’t know how to read drawings because the trainees claim that
they are not taught in schools. The trainees don’t know markings and also
don’t know how to make profile. Other areas that trainees are lacking are
block laying, plastering and training institution have to do more work on
finishing touches.
Excerpt No. 5: Tile Laying
I found out that all those working on Tile Laying on the construction site are
from Togo and talked to some of them. He says that sub-contractors come to
Togo to recruit them. When they complete their assignment, they go back to
Togo. When I asked the Supervisor why they prefer to recruit people from
Togo for tile laying in Ghana, he said that Ghanaians don’t accept what they
pay them per square metre. The Togolese will accept the terms, and do the
work well on time also.
The use of Competency-Based Training (CBT) approaches in TVET has been seen as the
main way of correcting the mismatch and is entrenched in the national TVET policy.
Structured and universal industrial attachment (or work-based learning) is another approach
that has been embraced by training institutions and industry as a way of bridging the supplydemand
mismatch, and negotiations as well as pilot studies are being undertaken to formalize
industrial attachment.
The TVET community has been sensitized to the need for tracer studies and the broader
concept of monitoring post-graduation experiences of TVET graduates but the resources and
capacity for execution are generally lacking. This study landed on only one tracer study
conducted by NVTI with technical and financial assistance of JICA. Some highlights of the
findings and conclusions of the tracer study (Nakanishi, 2006) are as follows:
(a) In reality, “it is very difficult for them [trainee graduates] to find a permanent job, a parttime
job, or a temporary job.”
(b) 63.7% of respondents [500] were able to start a new business less than 6 months after
training; 56.9% of those self-employed employ from one to five employees with a
maximum of 25 employees.
(c) About one out of four (25%) want to become an entrepreneur instead of being employed;
(d) 50% of those interviewed said financial problems were the most difficult when they
started self-employment; next was how to obtain efficient and useful tools or machinery.
41% said what they needed were tools or machinery and 38% needed financial assistance.
(e) As many as 65.5% gave vague answers about career advice. Career advice seems to be a
very difficult question for Ghanaians and that means that “vocational education is not so
familiar to parents, relatives, or superiors.”
(f) Labour force demand for the manufacturing sector is weak. The service sector, especially
the whole and retail sectors are growing.
One significant recommendation made by Nakanishi (2006) was that “as the labour market is
difficult, it is important for trainees to decide what they want to do after training as soon as
possible.” This means that trainees or students should be made aware of the realities of the

21
labour market right from the beginning so that they can consider employment options early
and be prepared for those options instead of the current false assumption that everybody was
being prepared for paid employment.
In 1990, the UNDP and the ILO sponsored a programme named Umbrella Programme for
Sustained Employment Generation. One component of that programme was the reorientation
of TVET towards self-employment through the mechanism of entrepreneurship
education and training. Since that time various TVET institutions have integrated or
attempted to integrate entrepreneurship and business management into their curricula as a
way of promoting self-employment. There has been no evaluation of these efforts and as
curricula continue to be driven by the pressure to pass examinations it is difficult to say the
extent to which TVET has been oriented towards self-employment over the past two decades.
It is pertinent to note that one category of evaluative criteria stipulated in the national TVET
policy is Labour-Market Related Criteria which includes employment of graduates after
training, relationship between type of training and type of work, graduate earnings
disaggregated by gender, graduate job satisfaction, and employer satisfaction with graduates’
performance. The implementation of these evaluative criteria will contribute to the
improvement of the transition to the labour market.
In summary, we can say that student transition from school to the labour market has not been
monitored and documented to any appreciable scale. However, anecdotal evidence and one
recent tracer study indicate that TVET has low efficacy with employers and that transition to
the labour market a difficult one for TVET graduates. As a matter of policy, the TVET
system in Ghana is to be transformed through the use of the CBT approach which is currently
being piloted in several institutions. Industry and training institutions are working together to
develop a structured industrial attachment system to strengthen the link between demand and
supply of skills, and institutions have become sensitive to the need to monitor the postgraduation
experiences of their graduates but they lack the technical and financial capacity to
execute.
3.5 Demand and Supply from the Labour Market
The supply of labour is determined by factors such as population size and distribution, design,
availability and diversity of education and training services, and access to education and
training. Jobs and job vacancies (demand for labour) exist as a result of private and public
spending, economic growth rate, diversification of economic activity, price of labour, labour
productivity, and investment and entrepreneurial decisions, (for example, preference for
labour intensive or labour-saving production technologies). Labour supply and demand
mismatches can occur as a result of imbalances among the determinants.
Ghana has not yet developed a Labour Market Information System (LMIS) for tracking the
demand for labour. A draft LMIS home page has been developed to provide data for planning
and informed decision making (ISSER, 2008, p. 152). At this time, it is not possible to
produce data on future labour market demand and supply. However, data presented in the
previous sections would give a fairly good view of demand and supply situation.
TVET providers would like to know what kinds of skills and competencies are required by
the demand side of the labour market. A recent empirical evidence giving hints about the
skill requirements of the labour market is presented in Table 3.10. Most of the “skills” listed
in the table are generic or general employability skills. These include communication skills,
human relations and interpersonal skills, innovation, and organisational skills. It is
noteworthy that the Draft National TVET Policy referred to these workplace generics

22
as “productivity factors and general employability skills” and recommended their
inclusion in the preparation of individuals for the world of work. The Education
Sector Performance Report 2008 has argued that “There is no reason why these skills
cannot be developed within the standard academic curriculum” (MoESS, 2008, p.
137). This argument is reasonable but does not mean that there is no need for TVET
and that people can go to the workplace with the generic skills alone. The challenge
to TVET is how to address the generic skills which have been neglected mainly due to
the external examination system.
Table 3.10: Distribution of Additional Skills Requirements for Job Positions by
Percent
Skill Requirement %
Driving Experience and Maintenance Ability 4.3
Entrepreneurship Training Experience 0.2
On-the-Job Training/Industrial Experience 15.6
Computer literacy 65.3
Secretarial/Typing Experience 0.7
Accounting/Bookkeeping Skills 2.7
Sales/Store Management/Marketing Skills 1.2
Project Management Skills 1.3
Administrative Management Skills 4.0
Smartness and Neatness 0.8
Foreign Language Ability 0.4
Excellent Oral and Communication Skills 3.5
Good Human Relations and Interpersonal Skills 1.6
Analytical Skills 1.2
Ability to Work Within Deadlines 0.6
Ability to Work Without Supervisions 1.8
Organisational and Motivational Ability 1.5
Initiative/Innovativeness/Resourcefulness 2.0
Source: Ghana Statistical Service. (2007). Investing in people, investing in jobs:
Keeping the Scores. Report on Job Tracking Survey, 2006. p.23.
Computer literacy stands out clearly as a skill that most employers (65.3%) expect employees
to have. Typing experience is in the list but does this mean “keyboarding” or the use of the
ancient manual typewriter (as the SHS curriculum still continues to offer). On-the-job
training/industrial experience is another significant requirement in the list. The question is
how prepared is industry to provide that OJT experience which is not available at the supply
side
From the data, analysis, and supporting information provided in the previous sections,
one would conclude that:
(a) The supply of labour exceeds the demand for labour mainly as a consequence of
the large size of the young and rapidly growing population. The young and
growing population pose challenges for coping with the education and training

23
needs of the population while at the same time meeting the skill quality needs of
employers.
(b) The demand side of the labour market is made up largely of the informal sector
which is characterized by self-employment and the employment of unpaid
employees. Consequently, data from large-scale enterprises on labour demand
may be misleading; their demand may not reflect those of the informal sector.
The predicament for training providers is how to train adequately for the
requirements of medium-to-large enterprises and for self-employment.
Assessment of demand for labour should not be focused only on the formal sector
which is rather small in the economic context of Ghana.
(c) The economy of Ghana is not sufficiently diversified; it depends heavily on
agriculture and the export of primary commodities. A more diversified economic
structure would increase the absorption capacity of the labour market.
(d) Training, however good it may be, will not create demand in the labour market
(World Bank, as cited in Palmer et. al, 2007). Most of the determinants of labour
demand are outside the control of the training sector; they hinge on government
policy, consumer spending, and other economic factors.
3.6 Issues
Issues that emerge from the Labour Market analysis include:
(a) The need for a better understanding and incorporation of informal sector needs in the
design and delivery of TVET if the ultimate goal of fitting trainees into the labour market
is to be realized.
(b) Training interventions have their limitations in ensuring TVET graduate entry into and
success in the labour market. Complementary policies and measures will be needed to
improve trainee access to and success in labour markets.
(c) The informal sector is not as organised as the formal sector; relying on the formal sector
for input into training design is useful but may not ensure relevance of training to the
informal labour market. Engagement of actors from both markets will be necessary for
developing relevant training programmes.
(d) As the short interviews with a few employers revealed, TVET trainees and graduates lack
certain basic domain-specific skills that employers want. This suggests that existing
curricula may not be relied upon for meeting relevant paid-employment and selfemployment
needs of graduates. Incoming partners may have to tackle the issue of
curriculum relevance before embarking on training delivery.
(e) The realities of the “difficult labour market” need to be made known to students/trainees
at the start of training programmes.
4.0 Lessons Learned from Previous Interventions / approaches. Good practices.
The following lessons and “good practices” from previous interventions such as the
Vocational Skills and Informal Sector Support Project, Skills Training and Employment Place
(STEP) are worth considering in the design of Schokland TVET project interventions:
• Get informal sector associations involved in designing programmes aimed at informal sector
employment; however, care must be taken that the associations do not use their powers
unduly, for example, in the selection of applicants for training.
• it is not enough to train apprentices; train the master-craftsmen and women as well;
• use short, modular training programmes in training for training for the informal sector;
• use an integrated approach in designing training programmes aimed at the informal sector
labour market; include entrepreneurship/business skills, marketing support, and micro-finance
assistance;

24
• for some trades, the provision of work tools and equipment at low cost may be necessary to
facilitate training entry into self-employment;
• for some groups (e.g. girls who dropped out of school early), “catch up classes” or transitional
education programmes may be necessary antecedents or complements of vocational training;
• to make training relevant, include enterprise-based training providers, not only institutionbased
training providers; however, the enterprise environment must be assessed before its
adoption as a training provider.
• In designing training for the poor, care must be taken not to raise expectations which cannot
be met – e.g. expectations of allowances for transport,
• Training schedules should be flexible meet the needs of participants from the informal sector;
• involve private TVET providers as much as possible in interventions targeted at youth who do
not get access to public institutions.
• Integrate career counselling and planning into vocational training programmes for the youth.
• Much of TVET is for the voiceless and advocacy action helps, as was demonstrated by the
role that the Vocational Training for Females (VTF) played in bringing the draft national
policy to the attention of government through the President’s Committee on Review of
Education Reforms in Ghana.
5.0 Practical and Policy Challenges
Ghana has a Draft National TVET policy document which has not been confirmed as “the
policy.” However, the passage of the COTVET Law and the preparatory work done for the
implementation of the key elements of the policy mean that COTVET can bring the policy
into reality. There are, however, some practical challenges ahead. The first is the bringing
together under one umbrella units which have for decades operated under independent
government ministries. As separate legal mandates still exist within the TVET sector,
collaboration among agencies of different ministries can be superficial, not deep enough.
Another practical challenge is whether COTVET will have the funding required to execute its
huge mandate or will be left to fallow as NACVET.
Foreign organisations coming to intervene in the TVET sector face some practical challenges.
One is knowing whom to deal with and align with in such a fragmented system. Another
practical challenge for the foreign organisation is the overwhelming degree of need for skill
training and the complexity of the labour market. Finding a niche and doing a good job of it
is the practical option. In doing so, the organisation must consider what is sustainable – what
happens when the project is over; what evidence would be there to show the organisation has
made an impact five or ten years later.
6.0 SWOT of Key Actors of TVET and Labour Market
Private
VTIs
STRENGTHS
Resilient, have survived without
much Government support
Spread around the country
OPPORTUNITIES
Great demand for skill training
Collaboration with NGOs, local and
foreign
STRENGTHS
Has the human resource capacity in
many areas
Got basic management structures in
WEAKNESSES
Poor training infrastructure
Inadequate and untrained staff
THREATS
Unsupportive policy environment
Students/trainees unable to pay fees
WEAKNESSES
Not labour market oriented enough
Very slow in acting on TVET-related
issues; more concerned about

25
MoESS
MMYE
place
Has well developed EMIS and
research and monitoring system
Greater access to funding for
education and training
OPPORTUNITIES
TVET targeted for budgetary
support in 2009/2010
STRENGTHS
Employment/labour market oriented
Recognition of NVTI certificates
Responsive to lower-level skill
training needs
Some experience in CBT
Nationwide coverage by centres
Experience in informal sector TVET
OPPORTUNITIES
Tentatively assigned major role in
COTVET implementation scheme
Collaboration with JICA in piloting
CBT
mainstream university bound
education than TVET.
Programmes of long duration
THREATS
In-school TVET programmes viewed
as not serving industry needs
WEAKNESSES
Weak human resource capacity
Limited sources of funding
THREATS
Industry unhappy with skill levels of
trainees
Getting placement for trainee industrial
attachment is a problem
Trade
Associations
Employers’
Associations:
AGI,
GEA,
GNCC
STRENGTHS
Large numerical strength
Training directly linked to work
Are able to control practice in some
fields (e.g. hairdressing)
Accessible nationwide
OPPORTUNITIES
Implementation of the New
Apprenticeship Programme (NAP)
Integration of apprenticeship into the
TVET qualification framework
STRENGTHS
Well organized
Active, dynamic
Advocacy capacity and experience
OPPORTUNITIES
Private enterprise promotion policies
of Government
International collaboration
WEAKNESSES
Training not systematic; no systematic
curriculum
Do not provide instruction in
supporting theory
THREATS
Lack of Government support
Many threatened by cheap imports
WEAKNESSES
Relatively small membership
Limited funding
THREATS
Global competition
7.0 Opportunities for the Future for Improved Harmonization of Different Actors (TVET
institutes, labour market, donor organizations)
Ghana is a relatively small country but with a fragmented TVET system. A major step
towards the harmonization of the system has been taken through the establishment of
COTVET. Plans for the operationalization of COTVET make provision for the use of

26
existing structures in the various ministries, such as NABPTEX, NVTI, and the Technical
Examinations Unit. The framework for harmonization has been created; the challenge is for
the various stakeholders to work within that framework. First, the Central Government and
the various arms of Government must show the way to harmonization. Government itself
needs to use COTVET rather than bypass it in TVET-related policies and actions. Second,
the MoESS needs to bring the other ministries together instead of monopolizing COTVET.
Cooperation will come from the other ministries if MoESS is not seen as possessing
COTVET and making other ministries spectators. Funding and other resources allocated to
COTVET should not be from MoESS or viewed as for MoESS only; they are taxpayers’
money and the different ministries should not be fighting over resources to the disadvantage
of poor people who need skill training to earn a living.
The donor community has a role to play in helping to harmonize the TVET system. First they
also must collaborate and coordinate their activities. The current practice whereby each
donor works separately and leaves when specific projects end does not help the country very
much. Continuity and sustainability hardly occur in practice because efforts are not pulled
together to consolidate interventions. Our Dutch partners coming to the TVET sector need to
collaborate among themselves so that they do not leave us with too many varied approaches
(for example, different CBT approaches) that we cannot harmonize.
The key to harmonization therefore lies in the key actors working within the newly created
COTVET framework. This means that COTVET must get its act together quickly, assert
itself, and be seen as capable of bringing the fragmented system together with its legal
mandate.
8.0 The way forward: From Understanding to Practical Support.
Recommendations & Niches.
The TVET sector and labour market situation in Ghana present many challenges and
opportunities for support. The following recommendations are offered to guide entry,
identification and selection of areas of focus, and project design.
(a) The TVET system in Ghana does not have a “one-stop” entry point as yet. Foreign
organisations coming into the sector will have to first contact the following
significant agencies: COTVET (still being formed); TVET Division of the MoESS;
and NVTI. Also, meeting with personnel at the TVETS/JICA office may be helpful.
(b) Short, focused, and modular training programmes would be more cost-effective and
labour market oriented than broad fields programmes. For example, in the building
construction field, short and highly focused programmes such as Floor and Ceiling
Tiling, and Ceiling Plastering would be preferable to the traditional broad Building
Construction course which does not make the trainee a specialist in anything.
(c) While efforts need to be made to diversify skill training options for females, choices
made should take into account the ease with which females enter the labour market
and remain in areas traditionally dominated by males.
(d) As a matter of policy, it is expected that TVET system in Ghana will be transformed
to the competency-based training approach. The capacity for implementing CBT is
weak. Local partners will expect incoming Dutch partners to help them develop and
implement CBT curriculum. Also, rather than deliver training directly, some Dutch
partners may want to assist agencies such as NVTI build capacity in CBT
development. Such an intervention though not targeted at specific groups can have
multiplier effects on the large numbers of youth served by the NVTI system.
(e) In some cases, remedial literacy and numeracy interventions may be necessary to
facilitate skill learning and use in the labour market. It is therefore recommended that

27
the assessment of readiness for skill learning be part of programme development,
depending of course on the type of programme.
(f) Career counselling and planning need to be incorporated into vocational training
programmes for young people; training should not focus only on present need but
should broaden the future career perspectives of the young people.
(g) Training infrastructure in most of Ghana’s vocational training institutions are
generally poor. Training interventions need to incorporate investment in basic tools
and equipment. One way in which Dutch civil society groups can assist with the
provision of tools and equipment is to mobilize the donation of tools such as hand
drills in good working condition. Such little donations can raise the productivity of
informal sector workers several times.
(h) The labour market in Ghana is a “difficult” one; to minimize the possibility of trainees
going back to the street after training, it will be important for specific training needs
assessment to be undertaken in developing skill training programmes. Labour market
needs should be assessed for specific areas.
(i) When it comes to the provision of skill training to economically disadvantaged
people, the question is who bears the cost While economically disadvantaged
groups need help, interventions must extract some amount of demonstrated
commitment from prospective beneficiaries. Totally “free” forms of assistance are
not only sustainable, they also attract the wrong people. For example, beneficiaries
may be asked to find and register their sponsors. Provision can however be made for
exceptional cases.
(j) Some recommended areas of focus or niches that Dutch partners may consider are:
i. Developing focused and integrated training programmes that equip people with
small-scale agro-processing technologies and marketing skills in line with the
national development goal of increasing manufacturing on the back of modern
agriculture;
ii. Skill training involving the transfer of appropriate technologies, such as the
building of solar energy product, small windmills, and other renewable energy
technologies.
iii. Integrated skill training and entrepreneurship focusing on new areas as the design
and production of product packaging materials using local raw materials.
iv. Partnering with organisations serving the skill training needs of vulnerable and
disadvantaged groups – such as the Ghana Federation of the Disabled and the
Presbyterian Church’s Vocational Training for Females (VTF), and the Young
Women Christian Association;
v. TVET instructor training a dying area that needs special attention; such
intervention will have multiplier effects and should be made accessible to private
TVET institutions which hardly invest in instructor training.
vi. General or specific advocacy work to get public officials, legislators, and
politicians to give practical support to TVET promotion. The advocacy may be
general or for specific interests such as gender and disability.
CONCLUSION
The TVET sector in Ghana faces many challenges. Foremost among those challenges
is the pressure to provide skills training to the vast majority of young people who drop
out of school early or are not able to continue formal education beyond basic

28
education. Resources and capacity constraints make the challenge a daunting one.
The second major challenge is a labour market which has limited absorption capacity
due partly to the limited diversity of the Ghanaian economy. To make matters worse,
the TVET sector has not traditionally established links with the labour market,
resulting in serious mismatches between labour demand and supply. Furthermore,
official Government pronouncements and policies have not been matched by practical
action and support to the TVET sector, hence there is a huge action deficit which
needs to be corrected.
The Schokland TVET project provides an opportunity for local stakeholders in the
TVET sector to partner with Dutch organisations in improving access and quality. It
is hoped that this mapping exercise will give the Dutch partners and local counterparts
a good understanding of the context and options for action towards improving access
and quality in the TVET sector.

29
REFERENCES
Baah, A. Y., & Achakoma, K. A. (2007). Youth Employment in Ghana: Policies and trade union
initiatives. Discussion Paper. Accra: Ghana Trade Union Congress
Duodu, A. (2006). TVET in Ghana: A Case Study.
Government of Ghana (2003). Education Strategic Plan 2003-2015. Volume 1: Policies, Targets
and Strategies.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2005). Population data analysis report. Volume 1: Socio-economic and
demographic trends. Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2006). 2003 National Industrial Census: Main Report.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2007a). Economic survey, 2001-2005.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2007b). Investing in people, investing in jobs: Keeping the score. Report
on job tracking survey, 2006.
Ghana Statistical Service. (2007c). Ghana: Advertised job vacancies, 2006.
King, K., Korboe, D, & Palmer, R. (2006). The social composition of skill acquisition and its labour
market outcomes in Ghana. Available:
http://recoup.educ.cam.ac.uk/research/Ghana.Skills.Strand......
Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (2006). State of the Ghanaian Economy in
200. Accra. ISSER.
Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (2008). Education Sector Performance Report, 2008.
Nakanish, I. (2006). Report on the tracer study of past trainees of National Vocational Training
Institute.
Palmer, R., Wedgwood, R., Hayman, R. (with K. King & N. Thin). (2007). Educating out of
poverty A synthesis report on Ghana, India, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa.
DfID, Researching the issues, #70, Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh.
Report of the President’s Committee on Review of Education Reforms in Ghana (October, 2002).
Republic of Ghana (2006, November). Report on Operationalizing COTVET Act. By COTVET
Preparatory Technical Committee under the TVETs Probject and with the Support of JICA.
UNESCO (2003). Synthesis of main findings from two case studies carried out in Ghana and
Zambia on private TVET. Paris: UNESCO.

30
ANNEXES
SOCIO-ECONOMIC FACTS AND FIGURES
ANNEX A1: Demographic and Economic Profile of Ghana
Characteristic
Essential Details
Area
238,533 sq km
18,912,079
(2005 est: 21,134,504)
Density: 79.3
Growth rate: 2.7
Population (2000
Census)
Urban: 8,247,270
Rural: 10,637,809
Male: 9,357,382
Female: 9,554,697
Life Expectancy at Birth
(2000 Census)
Administrative Regions
& Population Densities,
2000 Census.
Literacy of population
(15 & above, 2000
Census)
Languages
Major cities and towns
Main agricultural
products
Main industrial products
Main exports
Urban
Male: 61.6
Female: 65.3
Western (80.5)
Central (162.2)
Greater Accra (895.5)
Volta (79.5)
Eastern (109.0)
Female/Male: 1.02
Rural
Male: 56.1
Female: 60.3
Ashanti (148.1)
Brong Ahafo (45.9)
Northern (25.9)
Upper East (104.1)
Upper West (31.2)
Women: 2,783,836 (49.4%) Men: 3,556,825 (66.0%)
Official language: English
Major Ghanaian Languages: Akan (Twi/Fanti), Dagbani,
Ewe, Ga, Nzema, and Hausa.
Accra Metropolis
Kumasi Metropolis
Tamale
Takoradi Sub-Metro
Sekondi Sub-Metro
Ashaiman
Tema
1,658,937
1,170,270
202,317
175,436
114,157
150,312
141,479
Industrial: Cocoa, coffee, sheanut, seed cotton, tobacco, and
oil palm. Food crops: Maize, rice, millet, sorghum, cassava,
yam, plantain and groundnuts.
Mining: gold, diamond, managanese, bauxite;
Traditional: Cocoa, gold, bauxite, manganese; veneer
sheets; non-traditional: yam, pineapples, mangoes, cashew
nut.
Sources:
Ghana Statistical Service (2005). Ghana in figures. Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Statistical Service (2006). Women and Men in Ghana: A Statistical
Compendium. Accra, Ghana.
Ghana Statistical Service (2002). 2000 Population and Housing Census: Special Report
on 20 Largest Localities.

31
ANNEX A2: Population Characteristics of Ghana, 1960 - 2000
Characteristic 1960 1970 1984 2000
0 – 14 44.5 46.9 45.0 44.3
15 – 64 52.3 49.5 51.0 53.4
65+ 3.2 3.6 4.0 5.3
Urban 23.0 29.0 32.0 43.8
Rural 77.0 71.0 68.0 56.2
Female to male ratio 0.98 1.01 1.03 1.02
Population density 28.0 36.0 52.0 79.3
Population growth rate 2.4 2.6 2.7
Total Population 6,726,815 8,559,313 12,296,081 18,912,079
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2006). Ghana in Figures
ANNEX A3: Gross Domestic Product by Kind of Activity, Percent Distribution
ACTIVITY 2001 2002 2003 2004
AGRICULTURE 35.9 35.8 36.1 36.6
INDUSTRY
Mining and Quarrying
Manufacturing
Electricity and Water
Construction
24.9
5.3
9.1
2.6
7.9
24.9
5.2
9.2
2.6
8.0
24.9
5.2
9.1
2.5
8.0
24.7
5.1
9.0
2.5
8.1
SERVICES 29.9 30.0 29.8 29.6
SUB-TOTAL
90.7
90.7
90.8
90.9
Net Indirect Taxes
9.3
9.3
9.2
9.1
GDP in Purchasers Value 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2007). Economic Survey, 2001-2005, p.7.
ANNEX A4: Growth in Industrial Sub-Sectors, 2003-2005
Sub-Sector 2003 2004 2005
Manufacturing 4.6 4.6 5.0
Electricity and Water 4.2 3.7 12.4
Mining and Quarryuing 4.7 3.0 6.3
Construction 6.1 6.6 10.0
Total 5.1 4.8 7.7
Ghana Statistical Service (2007). Economic Survey, 2001-2005. p.17

32
ADDITIONAL EDUCATION AND TVET FACTS AND FIGURES
ANNEX B1: Enrolment in Educational Institutions by Category, 2004/2005
No. of
Public
Private
Institutions
Male Female Total Male Female Total
Public Privat
e
Pre-Schools 6,672 5,109 276,214 271,736 547,950 204,00 196,69 400,700
2 8
Primary 12,56 4,189 1,217,09 1,111,22 2,328,32 304,44 292,76 601,212
Schs.
5
9 5 4
9 3
JSS 6,729 1,970 450,597 371,608 822,205 97,559 90,482 188,041
SSS 485 N/A 201,717 159,783 361,500 N/A N/A N/A
Tech/Voc 23 “ 18,440 2,984 21,424 “ “ “
Nursing 16 “ N/A N/A N/A “ “ “
TCs
Teacher 38 “ 14,395 10,726 25,121 “ “ “
TCs
Polytechnic 10 “ 18,138 6,845 24,983 “ “ “
s
Universities 6 “ 48,055 25,353 73,408 “ “ “
Special Ed. 36 “ 2,666 1,769 4,435 “ “ “
N/A = Not Available
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2007). Economic Survey, 2001-2005, pp. 110-111.
ANNEX B2: Education Indicators and Achievement, 2007/2008
Indicator
Achievement
Indicator
Achievement
%
32.2
KG Gross Enrolment Rate
(GER)
89.9 SHS Gross Enrolment Rate
(GER)
Primary Gross Enrolment Rate 95.2 % Female Enrolment in SHS 44.0
Primary Gross Admission Rate 107.3
(GAR)
Primary Completion Rate 88.0 Adult Literary 61.7
JSS Gross Enrolment Rate
78.8
(GER)
JSS Completion Rate 67.7
BECE Pass Rate: Boys
62.08 Total Enrolment in tertiary 139,768
BECE Pass Rate: Girls
37.92 institutions, 2006/2007
SSSCE Pass Rate, 2007 40.0 % Private 17.0%
% Preschool Teachers Trained 42.9 % Female Enrolment in tertiary 34.0
institutions, 2006/2007
% Primary Teachers Trained 59.4 % Female Enrolment in
30.0
Polytechnics
% JSS Teachers Trained 76.4

33
KG Pupil Teacher Ration (PTR) 51.5:1 Access to education for PWDs 44%
Special Education Schools in
200
Primary Pupil Teacher Ratio 34.1:1 MoESS
(including Inclusive Schools)
Dedicated Special Schools
Total Enrolment in SPED
129
71
5,654
41.4%
Institutions
% Female Enrolment
JSS Pupil Teacher Ratio 17.4:1 Non-Formal Education
Learners recruited, 1992 – Mar 2,478,066
Gender Parity Index, KG
0.99 2007
395,937
(2007/08)
Dropouts: Total
Gender Parity Index, Primary 0.96 Dropouts: Female 248,555
Gender Parity Index, JHS 0.92
Source: RoG/Ministry of Education (2008). Education Sector Performance Report, 2008, p.
42
Comments:
- Completion rate for girls consistently lower than that for boys (p.47)
- High dropout rates from grade level to grade level
- At the JHS level, many children are attracted to the informal labour market when they reach
the age where they are expected to contribute to family income or fend for themselves (p.49)
- Tertiary enrolments increased tenfold from about 10,000 in 1990/91 to about 100,000 in
2008.
ANNEX B3: Proportion of Economically Inactive Adult Persons with Disability of Adult
Population
Year
1960 1970 1984 2000
Total 4.0 3.7 2.4 0.9
Women 4.7 4.5 3.0 0.9
Men 3.3 2.8 1.8 0.8
Total 148,323 166,250 159,712 94,401
Women 86,601 104,260 106,724 48,691
Men 61,722 61,984 52,988 5,710*
Ghana Statistical Service (2006). Women and Men in Ghana: A Statistical Compendium, p.
53.
ANNEX B4: Illustrative Male/Female Enrolment Ratios in Technical Training
Institutes
Programme
Male/Female Ratio
Automobile 165.3:1
Printing and Decorating 12.6:1
Carpentry and Joinery 278.2:1
Radio and TV Repair 76:1

34
Plumbing 45:1
Textiles 34:
Upholstery 2.5:1
Accounting 1.5:1
Secretarial 1.4:1
Fashion 1:818
Catering 1:203
Hairdressing 1:39
Source: Ministry of Education (as cited in Draft National TVET Policy, January
2000, p. 18
ANNEX B5: Levels in the National TVET Qualifications Framework
Designation of Level
Level 1: Proficiency 1
Level 2: Proficiency II
Level 3: Certificate I
Level 4: Certificate II
Level 5: Diploma
Required Entry Background
From no formal education to some basic education
but less than BECE
Proficiency I
Basic Education Certificate of Education (BECE)
Possession of Senior Secondary Certificate or
Certificate I
Possession of Senior Secondary Certificate of
Education or Certificate II
Possession of Senior Secondary Certificate or
Diploma
:Possession of HND
Level 6: Higher National
Diploma
Level 7: Bachelor of
Technology
Source: Republic of Ghana (2006). Report on Operationalizing COTVET Act. By
COTVET Preparatory Technical Committee (CPTC), p. 16.

35
ANNEX B6: Existing Qualification Awarding Bodies in the TVET System in Ghana
Body Qualifications Awarded
NVTI Trade and Crafts tests: Proficiency I, Proficiency II, Grade II, Grade 1,
National Craftsmen Certificate
Secretarial: Typist, Senior Typist, Stenographer, Senior Stenographer,
Stenographer Secretary, Private Secretary
NACVET Conducts tests and examinations Secretarial qualifications: Typist,
Senior Typist, Stenographer, Senior Stenographer, Stenographer
Secretary, Private Secretary.
Agriculture: Examinations and certificates for Farm Institutes under
the Ministry of Food and Agriculture
Technical Conducts external examinations for Technical Training Institutes in the
Exams Unit, Ghana Education Service (MoESS). Craft/and Trade Examinations:
GES Craft, Advanced Craft, Technician I, Technician II, Technician III
Government
Secretarial
School
HOTCATT
WAEC
NABPTEX
Business /Commercial Subjects: Accounting and Secretarial
Provides training and conducts examinations on behalf of the Civil
Service (the Awarding Body) for Secretarial certificates: Typist, Senior
Typist, Stenographer, Senior Stenographer, Stenographer Secretary, and
Private Secretary.
Conducts training in tourism and hospitality and conducts examinations
for own students. Awards UK NVQ equivalent qualifications: Level 2:
Basic; Level 3: Intermediate; Level 4: Supervisory
WAEC conducts examinations in vocational and technical subjects
taught in the Senior Secondary/Senior High School.
Conducts and supervises the conduct of examinations at the
polytechnics for the award of the HND.

36
ADDITIONAL LABOUR-MARKET FACTS AND FIGURES
ANNEX C1: Employed Persons (15 years and older) by Major Sector of Economy,
1960-2000
Major Activity
Census Year
1960 1970 1984 2000
Total 61.8 57.0 61.1 53.1
AGRICULTURE Women 58.4 54.5 56.0 52.0
Men 63.9 59.1 66.4 54.3
Total 15.1 15.8 12.9 15.5
INDUSTRY
Women 10.6 15.5 14.3 13.3
Men 17.9 16.2 11.2 17.5
Total 23.1 27.2 25.0 31.5
SERVICES
Women 31.0 30.0 29.6 34.7
Men 18.2 24.7 20.2 28.2
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2006). Women and Men in Ghana: A Statistical
Compendium.
ANNEX C2: Employed Persons Aged 15 Years and Older by Employment Status
Employment by Industrial Sector
Ghana (Total
Labour Force)
Rural Labour
Force
Urban
Labour
Force
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 44.5 66.1 15.4
Mining & Quarrying 0.9 0.8 1.1
Manufacturing 6.4 5.0 8.2
Construction 3.9 3.0 5.1
Transport, Storage, &
2.7 1.4 4.4
Communication
Wholesale and Retail Trade 22.3 14.6 32.6
Finance & Insurance Services 7.6 3.5 13.2
Electricity, Gas, Water 0.6 0.3 1.1
Community and Social Services 11.1 5.2 18.9
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0
Source: Ghana 2003 Core Welfare Indicators Questionnaire (CWIQ II) Survey
Report (as cited by Baah & Achamoka, 2007, p. 6).

37
ANNEX C3: Labour Force Participation and Unemployment Rates by Level of
Education
Level of
Education/Institution
Labour Force
Participation Rate
Unemployment
Women Men Women Men
Primary 5.9 5.1 5.7 4.6
Secondary 4.6 8.5 7.0 10.5
Vocational/Technical 3.1 4.7 3.7 4.9
Tertiary 1.5 3.4 2.0 2.8
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2006). Women and men in Ghana: A statistical
compendium, p. 44.
ANNEX C4: Registered Unemployment Statistics by Gender, 2002-2007
Year Male Female Total
Number T Number % Total
2002 436,243 85.00 76,985 15.00 513,228
2003 199,764 84.94 35,416 15.06 235,180
2004 310,195 87.06 46,111 12.94 356,306
2005 317,764 84.18 59,730 15.82 377,494
2006 233,571 83.44 46,372 16.56 279,943
2007 398,284 88.38 52,341 11.62 450.625
Source: Employment and Statistics Unit, Labour Department (as cited in ISSER,
2008, State of the Ghanaian Economy in 2007, p. 154).
ANNEX C5: Economically Active Population by Employment Status and Sex, 1984
& 2000 Censuses
Employment
1984 2000
Status
Both Males Females Both Males Females
Sexes
Sexes
Self-Employed 67.7 60.6 74.5 65.8 61.2 70.5
Employees 15.7 24.6 7.2 14.2 19.6 8.7
Unpaid Family
Workers 12.2 9.1 15.1 6.1 5.1 7.0
Others 1.6 2.5 0.7 3.5 4.0 3.1
All Employed 97.2 96.8 97.5 89.6 89.9 89.3
Unemployed 2.8 3.2 2.5 10.4 10.4 10.7
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
N 5,580,10
4
2,724,48
1
2,855,63
3
8,292,11
4
4,170,60
9
4,121,50
5
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2005). Population Data Analysis Report. Volume
1: Socio-Economic and Demographic Trends, p.100.

38
ANNEX C6: Unemployed Persons by Age, 1960 – 2000
Age Group
Year
1960 1970 1984 2000
Total 63.8 71.7 74.5 36.1
15 – 24 Women 71.1 82.0 79.5 36.5
Men 59.9 67.5 70.5 35.8
Total 28.2 24.6 21.8 38.4
25 – 44 Women 19.5 15.6 16.7 39.7
Men 32.5 28.2 25.9 37.0
Total 6.4 3.2 2.6 15.6
45 – 64 Women 6.6 1.8 2.4 15.3
Men 6.3 3.8 2.8 16.0
Total 1.6 0.6 1.1 9.8
65+ Women 2.2 0.6 1.3 8.6
Men 1.4 0.5 0.8 11.2
Total 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Women 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Men 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0
Total 163,643 198,571 157,464 863,740
Women 54,550 57,107 70,194 442,018
Men 109,093 141,467 87,452 421,722
Source: Ghana Statistical Service (2006). Women and Men in Ghana: A Statistical
Compendium, p. 49.
ANNEX C7: Job Creation by Sector, January – September 2006
Sector Agriculture Industry Services
Gross 24,021 19,387 142,631
Job losses 3,274 4,724 24561
Net 20,747 14,663 118,070
Source: Ghana Statistical Service. (2007). Investing in people, Investing in jobs:
Keeping the scores. Report on Job tracking survey, 2006. p. 19.

39
ANNEX C8: Job Creation by Type of Work, January to September, 2006
Type of
work
Permanent Temporary Casual Piece
Rate
Apprentices
Other
Gross 56,638 104,142 14,625 2,550 851 7,333
Job losses 20,950 3,375 7,468 796 264 294
Net 35,688 100,767 7,157 1,754 587 7,039
Source: Ghana Statistical Service. (2007). Investing in people, Investing in jobs:
Keeping the scores. Report on Job tracking survey, 2006. p. 18.
ANNEX C9: Distribution of Employment Vacancies (Advertised) by Educational
Attainment (2006)
Educational Level Frequency Percent
None/Primary/Middle/JSS 92 2.5
Vocational/Commercial 24 0.6
‘O’ Level/SSSCE 184 5.2
‘A’ Level 30 0.8
Training College 66 1.8
HND/Diploma 706 19.7
Degree 1,861 50.9
Masters 442 12.4
Doctorate or higher 69 1.8
Others 179 5.0
Total 3,655 100.0
Source:
More than have of the job openings advertised (in the Daily Graphic and Ghanaian
Times for the period January – December 2006) were for university graduates. First
degree accounted for 50.9%, masters, 12.4% and doctorate, 1.8%.

40
ANNEX C10: Distribution of Entry Requirements by Job Positions
Position %
No Entrance Requirement 4.6
Doctorate Degree 0.5
Master’s Degree 2.7
Bachelor’s Degree 24.6
Final levels in CIMA, CIB, ACCA 0.2
HND, Level 1 in ICA, ACCA, CIMA, CIM 25.3
Foundation and Intermedicate Levels in CIM, CA, ACCA,
0.9
CIPS
GCE ‘A’ Level/RSA(III), OND/City & Guilds, Cert. ‘A’ 4.9
GCE ‘O’ Level/SSSCE Cert 18.5
NACVET/NVTI/City & Guilds (I), RSA II, Other Voc/Comm 7.4
MSLC/BECE 10.1
No Schooling 0.2
Source: Ghana Statistical Service. (2007). Investing in people, Investing in Jobs:
Keeping the Scores. Report on Job Tracking Survey, 2006. p.22.
The results indicated that there was high demand for middle-level personnel with
analogous qualifications comparable to Level II in CA (Ghana), CIMA, ACCA, CIM,
and HND.
ANNEX C11: Distribution of Manufacturing Establishments by Number of Persons
Engaged, 2003
Establishment Size Total Establishments Persons Engaged
No % No %
30 or more persons 517 2.2 84,774 38.2
20 – 29 persons 534 2.3 12,658 5.7
10 – 19 persons 2,742 11.5 35,742 16.1
1 – 9 persons 20,004 84.0 88,778 40.0
All 23,797 100.0 221,952 100.0