About 60% of JHS graduates cannot enter SHS – Education Minister

Mrs Betty Mould-Iddrissu, Minister of Education on Wednesday said about 60 per cent of graduates from Junior High Schools (JHS) could not enter into Senior High Schools (SHS) while five per cent out of the 60 per cent continued in formal technical and vocational education.

She noted that most of the JHS graduates who did  not get the opportunity to further their education were neither in training nor any employment but were into petty trading on the streets.

Mrs Mould-Iddrissu made the observation at the presentation of National Apprenticeship Programme Tools donated by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) to the Greater Accra Regional Coordinating Council in Accra.

She explained that the National Apprenticeship Programme was designed to equip the unemployed youth who did not have access to SHS with skills which would enable them to find honest employment while contributing their quota to national development.

Mrs Mould-Iddrissu said 52 districts in seven Regions had benefited from the programme since its inception in May 2011, and it was the turn of Greater Accra Region with Accra Metropolitan Area, Ga West and East, Dangbe West and East, Ashaiman, Ga South and Ayawaso being the beneficiaries.

She explained that the youth in those districts would be trained in garment-making, cosmetology, electronics, welding, fabrication and auto mechanics.

The Minister said government was providing all the necessary tools for the apprentices to facilitate their training, including sewing machines, overlock machines, hair dryers, hair straightners, curling tongs, auto mechanic tool kits and electronic tool kits.

In addition, government with the aid of donor partners had set up a Skills Development Fund with $70 million to support 19,000 workers and 3,000 firms across all sectors of the economy in the next five years.

Source: GNA