Ghanaian Business man, Dr. Kofi Amoah has bemoaned the behavior of the country’s legislators and authorities, who are quick to point out problems in the country without prescribing any solution to these problems.
He made this comment on the back of a statement of the First Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Joseph Osei-Wusu, who said miseducation and the phenomenon of attending school for certificates with no regard for employable skills, vocational and technical competence that could lead to entrepreneurship has caused unemployment amongst young graduates.
Dr. Kofi Amoah noted, the ordinary Ghanaian graduate is not asking for freebies and want real jobs to survive. “The youth are saying I am out of school, I want a job and need help and I agree with such a statement coming from parliament. I was expecting parliament to say that this is a big issue facing the country and we need to meet and form a committee to understand why our kids come out of school with the wrong skills set and expertise. We have become a people who only prescribe problems and leave it at that and it will not help us,” he stated.
According to him, the wholesale nature of education in Ghana is also a problem that causes unemployment. In as much as he regards education as important, he insists “it is not an end in itself.”
He believes every educated person must be absorbed into some productive activity for them to be useful to themselves and the society. “If we are investing all this money in educating our young people and they are not getting jobs after 3 or 4 years then that is a bad investment,” he told Don Kwabena Prah on the Epa Hoa Daben political talk show aired on Happy98.9FM.
The businessman urged government to have a plan outlining the number of people it needs in a particular field as that can guide the educational system and the courses the youth pursue at the tertiary level. “If our young people complete school and there is a plan from government which says we need 5000 chemical engineers or 500 mechanical engineers in the next 3 years, then it will guide them. I was in school in America and had friends from Taiwan. Their countries sponsored them to learn and after their studies they went back to their home country to support the government boost its economy. That was 35 years ago and look at their economy now. We need to use this kind of formula and make sure everyone goes ahead.”
Joe Osei Owusu, the first Deputy Speaker of Parliament has backed the Finance Minsiter’s calls for more Ghanaian youth to venture into entrepreneurship.
He bemoaned the miseducation of Ghanaian youth and the archaic mentality they have about white collar jobs.
Speaking in a radio interview, he described miseducation as the phenomenon of attending school for certificates with no regard for employable skills, vocational and technical competence that could lead to entrepreneurship.