Africa Must Rethink Its Approach To Education, Focusing On STEM And TVET

Asempa Dawuro

Sep 15, 2024 - 19:21

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Africa Must Rethink Its Approach To Education, Focusing On STEM And TVET

By Adu Gyamfi Odopa (gyamemma5@gmail.com)

The Director - General of United Nations Education, Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Audrey Azoulay has reechoed that Africa must rethink its approach to education, focusing more on Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

According to her, the first President of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah's. statement, “We want thinkers of great thoughts, doers of great deeds; we need lectures, theories, knowledge, but we must blend these with hands - on application and skills training" resonate with this call.

She emphasised these at the recently ended China - Africa Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Cooperation Consortium Annual Conference 2024 and the China - Africa - UNESCO High - Level Dialogue on Cooperation in Education and Cultural Heritage Protection.

The event, held in Beijing, China on September 2024, was under the theme “Partnering for a Shared Future – Empowering TVET Development through Collective Effort".

It brought together 80 distinguished guests, including government officials (among them ministerial representatives), academics, practitioners from both Africa and China, and representatives of China - Africa TVET Cooperation Consortium (CATCC) member institutions.

The dialogue highlighted the commitment to fostering collaboration in the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector between China and Africa.

One of the notable presentations revealed that China has over 8,000 TVET institutions, producing more than three million graduates annually, thus about 70 per cent of the country’s total graduates each year.

There is a famous saying that, Audrey Azoulay indicated, “teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime".

In the same way, the Director - General of UNESCO stated that TVET is not only about shaping talent, but also cultivating creativity and diversity, transforming individuals from mere human capital to dynamic human resources.

Ing Peter Antwi Bosiako, the Deputy Director - General for the Commission of TVET (CTVET), who represented Ghana at the conference, said that there is a clear call for African leaders to prioritize the development of TVET knowledge and youth skills for the long - term progress of our continent.

He noted that China’s rapid technological and economic development is largely due to its heavy investment in TVET stressing that their collaboration with Africa is aimed at enhancing student skills by positioning TVET as a key driver for Africa’s development.

The Deputy Director - General said this is the reason why, over the last seven years, Ghana has invested significantly and introduced transformative policies to elevate skills training in the TVET landscape.

Ing Antwi Bosiako indicated that the partnership underscores the importance of collective effort in achieving far - reaching development adding that “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together".

The CTVET at the visit, he added, facilitated the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Zhejiang Polytechnic University of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ZIME), one of China’s top ten TVET institutions and Bolgatanga Technical University (BTU) in Ghana.

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