‘Ghana must train more local people in technical skills’
The Vice Chancellor of the Koforidua Technical University (KTU), Professor David Kofi Essumang, has reiterated the need to train more local people in technical skills to drive the country’s industrialisation growth.
According to him, most of the country’s big industries, for example the oil and gas industry, was manned by expatriates.
“We need to train more of our local students to have the requisite technical skills, so that they can take over from these expatriates who were manning most of our big industries,” he said.
Professor Essumang was speaking at the 26th matriculation ceremony organised by KTU in Koforidua last Saturday.
Welcoming the matriculants, Professor Essumang advised them to set very high academic and ethical values for themselves and allow the university to have positive impact on them.
He stated that the university was committed to improving learning conditions and has made several infrastructural improvements, including Information, Communication and Technology to enhance teaching and learning.
The matriculation, which was partially virtual, was on the theme “Industrialisation for Self-Reliance: The Impact of Technical Universities”.
Two thousand, eight hundred and fifty-four students, made up of 1, 767 males and 1, 087 females, matriculated to undertake Bachelor of Technology, Business Administration, Higher National Diplomas, Diplomas and Certificate in various academic disciplines.
The students were led by the Acting Registrar of KTU, Mathias Fred Adjei, to swear the matriculation oath and sign the matriculation register.
He said for the country to develop and grow economically, “there is the need for us to be self-reliant and drive our own industrialisation.”
“That is why at KTU, we focus on the technical training. For instance, wielding is an important area in oil and gas industry because the machines on shore may rust and there will be the need to wield them, hence, you need skilled people to do that,” he explained.
Professor Essumang added that by training students with the necessary technical and vocational skills, they would be able to take over from expatriates “so that we will not always rely on them but would drive our own industrialisation.”
The VC also noted that most students who went through the technical universities were trained to become self-reliant entrepreneurs, and added that such entrepreneurial skills and training could make students take over the industrialisation process of the country.
He stated that technical universities had roles to play in the industrialisation process of the country, and advised them to focus more on training students with the requisite technical and vocational skills to provide the country with the necessary human resource for industrial growth.
FROM AMA TEKYIWAA AMPADU AGYEMAN, KOFORIDUA
