Vice President Dr. Mahamudu Bawumia has announced some major programs being rolled out by the government to solve the unemployment crises facing the youth of the country.
He insisted that the government’s goal is to train graduates to get the required skills for the contemporary job market.
To this end, he cited how at least 150,000 youth are receiving training for employment in the banking sector alone.
The Vice President was speaking at the Ghana Youth Congress hosted at the Pentecost Convention Centre at Gomoa Fettteh in the Central Region on Tuesday, February 9.
“Some of the initiatives that are ongoing and we are going through ongoing stakeholder engagement for skills revitalization in several sectors of the economy,” he indicated.
“For example, the banking sector is engaging in skills development programs for at least 150,000 youth over the next three years and in the tourism, arts and culture sector, which targets to train and certify 10,000 persons by 2023 on specific tourism and cultural skills.”
This will be seen as a major boost after the banking sector clean-up from 2017 to 2019 saw many losing their jobs.
Some have ventured into other areas while others have been without a job since the collapse of their banks.
Dr. Bawumia said in the era of digitalization, certificates alone may not be enough to gain employment.
“Government’s goal is to train our graduates to acquire the needed skills required for the job market in the future. Today’s job market is not about certificates [but rather] it is a job market that is about skills.”
He admitted that there will be challenges but “we will not be distracted”.