Full Text: Ambassador Winfred Nii Okai Hammond’s speech at the First World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference

Full Text: Ambassador Winfred Nii Okai Hammond’s speech at the First World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference

REMARKS BY HIS EXCELLENCY DR WINFRED NII OKAI HAMMOND

GHANA’S AMBASSADOR TO THE PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

FIRST WORLD VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT CONFERENCE

THEME: CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION ON “VOCATIONAL AND TECHNICAL EDUCATION DEVELOPMENT IN THE POST-PANDEMIC ERA- NEW CHANGES, NEW WAYS AND NEW SKILLS”

Tianjin, 18-20 August, 2022

Ministry of Education, PRC, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology,

the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs,

the State Administration of Taxation,

the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration of The State Council,

the National Rural Revitalization Administration and other relevant State departments,

  1. It is a great privilege and an honour for me to be part of the First World Vocational and Technical Education Development Conference to make these remarks. The timing of this conference and the choice of the theme; China-Africa Cooperation on “Vocational and Technical Education Development in the Post-pandemic Era- New Changes, New ways and New Skills”, couldn’t have been better, as global economies are still struggling to cope with the negative impact of the Coronavirus pandemic.
  1. Ladies and Gentlemen, it is refreshing to note that the contribution of Chinese-built vocation institutions upgrade projects in Ghana and other West African countries by AVIC-INTL Project Engineering Company, is a testament to China-Africa efforts at unearthing the development of vocational and technical education. But you will all agree with me that a lot more is needed. 
  1. Excellencies, before the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic and other global challenges, the last decade or so, saw Africa experiencing a significant growth as a result of the rapid transformation and foreign investments which helped to boost the demand for greater technological skills.
  1. The COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the labour market and education landscape significantly. Around the world, measures to slow the spread of the virus included closing public institutions, schools and workplaces.
  1. Like many other institutions, TVET shifted to online learning to ensure that students continued to have access to education and training. However, the practical and hands-on nature of TVET meant that institutions faced challenges adapting teaching to online modes and equipping teachers and students to cope with the changing environment.
  1. The crisis has adversely impacted labour markets and led to deepening uncertainty, vulnerability of employment, and inequality. Furthermore, measures to improve efficiency and profitability in the economic recovery have often led to jobless growth.
  1. The pandemic exposed weaknesses in TVET institutions and systems, but the scale of innovation and experimentation also showed that rapid change is possible. Together, we can change  challenges into opportunities.
  1. Responding to the pandemic involves preventing and remediating dropout and reversing learning losses as well as reskilling workers to strengthen their employability in a labor market that may have structurally changed. At the same time, many TVET systems worldwide still need to address important structural gaps that persistently weakened their performance even before the pandemic.
  1. Dear Participants, 2020 was a year when the world was panic-stricken by the pandemic, but also one of intensive creativity.
  1. As economies, schools and training centers reopen, there is an urgent need for skills development mechanisms that are tailored both to students’ individual needs and to the changing skill needs on the labor market, with digital skills, socioemotional skills, higher-order cognitive skills, and adaptability being valued more than ever. This opens a window of opportunity as stakeholders realize the potential and need for structural reforms of TVET for better skills development and better jobs.
  1. In this era of the 4th Industrial revolution, many are scared of their jobs being taken over by machines, posing more threats of unemployment and civil conflicts to governments. But at the same time, tremendous opportunities exist for the formation of more intensive Public-Private-Partnerships to build the capacities required to transform Technical and Vocational Education Training towards an effective e-commerce, digital governance, green economy technologies, high end technologies for the 4th Industrial Revolution, etc.
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