[ 2015-12-21 ]

10 tech institutes get US$100,000 grants …to be self-sufficient
Ten technical institutes have received grants of
between US$70,000 and US$100,000 to undertake
commercial ventures in order to generate revenues
and support the institutes’ development in the
future.

The commercial ventures include mechanised
vegetable cultivation, installation and repair of
solar panels, establishment of computerised auto
diagnostic facilities, and commercial block
manufacturing.

The beneficiary institutions are Ada Technical
Institute, Akwatia Technical Institute,
Amankwakrom Technical Institute, Asowansi
Technical Institute, Bolga Technical Institute,
Kpando Technical Institute, Nkoranza Technical
Institute, Dabokpa Technical Institute, Wa
Technical Institute, and Krobea Asante Technical
Institute.

The grant was part of the government of Ghana’s
support under the Development of Skills for
Industry Project (DSIP)

DSIP is designed to reinforce government’s
efforts in implementing the reform of Technical
and Vocational Education and Training.

It is funded with a US$120million loan facility
from the Africa Development Bank and implemented
by the Project Support Unit of the Council for
Technical and Vocational Education and Training
(COTVET).

The overall purpose of DSIP is to support the
development of high quality middle-level technical
and vocational skills needed in the Ghanaian
economy.

Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of
Education, urged the beneficiaries -- who are the
first batch to receive the grant -- to manage
their projects with a business mindset with the
aim of setting a good example for a pilot
intervention, based on which future replications
can be premised.

He said one of the strategies government has been
implementing through COTVET is the setting up of
institutional production units in TVET
institutions.

Such units, he said, will serve as workshops and
business centres for the production and marketing
of items that have market potential. Revenues
realised from such enterprises will go to support
the schools’ developmental efforts.

“In the pursuit of this objective, COTVET
launched the Institutional Production Unit’s
Call for Proposals in June 2014, which has
culminated in selection of the 10 beneficiary
institutions that have received the grants.

“The sound experience from management of the
Skills Development Fund gives me confidence that
COTVET has put in place a similarly efficient
technical, financial and procurement management
and monitoring mechanism, to ensure grants are
utilised for the approved activities and to
benefit the institutions and Ghana in general,”
he said.

Source - Bus & Fin Times

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