The Deputy Director-General of the Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (CTVET), Ing. Peter Antwi Boasiako has said that the only way to reduce the youth unemployment situation across the African countries is for the Leaders to invest significantly in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) to upskill the youth with tech-driven entrepreneurial and industry-led skills.
He implored African Leaders to take the advantage TVET offers to help the youth gain some employable skills and entrepreneurial trades to create self-employment opportunities without having to wait on the government with hope to be put on its payroll.
The Deputy Commissioner, represented the Director-General of the Commission for TVET at an occasion of “Africa Tech Challenge (ATC) Awards 2023” jointly organised by the Ministry of Education of Kenya, AVIC International Holding Corporation, and China Education Association for International Exchange (CAIE) in Nairobi, Kenya.
This was under the auspices of CSR Youth Empowerment project, which aims at enhancing the technical skills of students pursuing technical programmes in Africa, as well as cultivating the spirit of entrepreneurship as a way of encouraging innovation amongst the youth in Africa.
In another event (Kenyan National WorldSkills Competition) which also occurred in Nairobi during the same period, Ing. Antwi Boasiako stressed that “No government can create jobs for all of its citizens, however, in collaboration with the private businesses and individual entrepreneurs, jobs can be created for all”.
The Africa Tech Challenge competition had two components: the Computer Numerical Control (CNC) Lathe Machining component which was held on-site in Kenya, and the Mechanical Drawing & Computer Aided Design Software Applications component which was also held virtually.
The competition started on 24th July 2023, and lasted for five weeks, with 83 teams formed by 332 participants from Nine African countries, thus: Egypt, Côte d’Ivoire, Kenya, Ghana, Zimbabwe, Gabon, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
Gracing the award ceremony as the Special Keynote Speaker was the Deputy President of Kenya, H.E. Geoffrey Rigathi Gachagua who stood in for the President of the Republic of Kenya. In his remarks, he acknowledged the importance of equipping the youth with quality employable training and practical-oriented demand-driven skills that will position the youth to be financially independent and resourceful after receiving training to support the national economic development.
He again stated that, “gone are the days when we used to say, the youths are the future leaders, but today, the youths are not only the future leaders but are the drivers to our future, because of the rapid changes in technology and innovation.
