Parliament has adopted the report of the Committee of Finance and approved it by resolution, requesting waiver on Import Duties, Import VAT, GETFund Levy, Import NHIL, EXIM Levy, Special Import Levy amounting to the Ghana Cedi equivalent of Twenty-Six Million, Nine Hundred and Sixty-Six and Eighty-Three United States Dollars Thousand (US$26,966,083.00) on Project materials and equipment to be procured for the rehabilitation and upgrading of equipment in Technical Universities, Polytechnics and Technical and under the Government Vocational Training Centers Concessional Loan Agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the Export-Import Bank of China.
The objective of the project is to improve the employability of Ghanaian youth by providing them with the relevant skills and competencies required for self and formal employment.
The report seeks not only to help reduce unemployment among the youth but to also help encourage indigenous entrepreneurship and further provide Ghanaian industries with the relevant manpower to make them globally competitive.
The Committee observed that the project when implemented is expected to produce highly skilled human capital through improved teaching and learning environment in the beneficiary institutions, increased supply of high caliber TVET graduates, increased participation levels at TVET and increased supply of high caliber TVET instructors.
The Chairman of The Committee, Dr. Mark Assibey-Yeboah, said:, “The Committee is satisfied that the request is in consonance with the contract agreement between the Government of the Republic of Ghana and the AVIC International Holding Corporation of the People’s Republic of China for the Ghana-China project on education.
Background
In 2010, Government requested funding from the People’s Republic of China to finance the rehabilitation and development of ten (10) Technical Institutions, Five (5) Polytechnics and the Technical Examinations Unit of the Ghana Education Service. The scope of work was later increased to thirteen (13) Technical Institutes and ten (10) Polytechnics/Technical Universities.
The proposed intervention is part of the on-going measures by the education sector to expand equitable access to and quality of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in response to overwhelming social demand.
Story by Edzorna Francis Mensah
