Interestingly, the emerging good news has it that the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations, Ignatius Baffour-Awuah says government’s plan to employ 1.2 million graduates from Senior High Schools as well as TVET Institutions are far advanced.
According to him, the initiative is to help reduce unemployment rate among the youth in the Country.
Speaking at the launch of a report by the World Bank on youth unemployment in the country, Mr Ignatius Baffour-Awuah noted the high enrollment of students in various schools as a result of the Free SHS will increase the level of unemployment, a situation he said the government has plans to address.
“The issue of unemployment is expected to grow in the short to medium term due to the success of the government’s free SHS program and the planned TVET for Senior High Technical Schools,” the Minister said at the launch of a report by the World Bank on youth unemployment in Ghana.
He added, “More than 1.2 million young people will be graduating annually from second cycle institutions to enrol in tertiary education or training or move directly into the labour markets. This is an increase from the 800,000 students enrolled in secondary schools in 2016. Efforts must therefore be doubled to ensure that employment opportunities exist for the products of our education and training institutions.”
According to the Minister, the Akufo-Addo government will motivate the youth in Ghana to practice agribusiness and also nurture people with entrepreneurship qualities.
“The cassava enterprise project, national entrepreneurship plan and presidential pitch are key examples of some of the interventions the government is using to provide jobs for young persons. These efforts are in addition to traditional employment opportunities in the formal sectors of the economy,” Ignatius Baffour-Awuah said.
Conclusively, the Minister for Employment and Labour Relations added that the Government of Ghana (GoG) will liaise with local and international firms to make this a reality.
