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Dr Steve Manteaw, a policy analyst and chairman of the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas, is calling on government to orient vocational and technical schools to meet the demands of Ghana’s oil and gas industry. He said the vocational and technical schools, for years now have been relegated to the backbench and called on relevant authorities to modify the syllabus of these institutions to make up for the lapses in the oil and gas industry.
Speaking at an event organized by the Civil Society Platform on Oil and Gas (CSPOG) in partnership with Ghana Oil and Gas for Inclusive Growth; themed “Options for addressing governance challenges in the oil and gas sector”, Dr. Manteaw indicated the need to correct misconceptions surrounding technical and vocational institutions as being the reserve of the less intelligent and as choice of last resort for students who fail to make Senior High School grades.
Dr Manteaw,, debunking this notion, stressed the need to orient second cycle institutions to take up some of the electrical, engineering and vocational aspects of the petroleum industry.
Mr Asaah Mohammed, a lecturer at UDS and a participant at the workshop also indicated the need for government to develop curriculum that will help whet the appetite of the young and upcoming to take up interest and venture into the industry. He stressed that the sector is mostly perceived as the preserve of only a close-knit of experts and thus scaring most people from discussing issues involving the industry. He said “developing a curriculum that incorporate some aspects of the sector will court the interest of young people in this sector – from lower level of their education to the highest”.
The oil industry, especially the upstream sector, is mostly occupied by foreigners with little to no local participation; a situation that’s quite different from what pertains elswhere. It is therefore become imperative that the Government, Curriculum Board and the Ghana Education Service commit to revising our Vocational and Technical institutions as suggested by the civil society actors.
The 2-day event is expected to provide the platform for discussing the status of oil and gas governance in Ghana after 10 years of commercial production.
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