ARTISANS AWARDED NVTI CERTICATES (PAGE 20)

Story: A. Kofoya-Tetteh

FIFTY-TWO artisans, made up of carpenters, masons, auto-mechanics and others from different vocations in the West Akyem District capital, Asamankese, who were examined in their various trades, had been presented with National Vocational Training Institute (NVTI) certificates.
The initiative, which was carried out with financial support from the Rural Enterprise Project (REP), was to update the skills of the artisans to properly place them on the job market.
Addressing the ceremony at Asamankese at the weekend, the West Akyem District Chief Executive (DCE), Mr Kwabena Sintim Aboagye, said the government, in its effort to develop the human resource base of the country, was carrying out numerous programmes aimed at building the capacities of the people to improve their living conditions.
He said they included the construction of a rural technology workshop in the district, of which the West Assembly District Assembly made available GH¢3,750 for its connection to the national grid in order to get electricity supply to train artisans.
Mr Sintim Aboagye said the government was also paying part of the training cost, adding that the assembly was considering assisting the trainee artisans to secure funds after their training to establish their own businesses.
He stated that GH¢2,000 had already been made provided to support 30 apprentices who had graduated.
The DCE advised the artisans to be serious with their work, since it was only their hard work that would attract the government or any financial institution to assist them with funds for their activities.
The Eastern Regional Co-ordinator of the NVTI, Mr Samuel Kwasi Ofosu, who took the participants through the rudiments of the job, deplored the situation where artisans were often placed on the lowest grades at the workplace, although they normally did most of the work.
He advised them to acquire NVTI certificates that would reverse that trend.
The Rural Enterprise Project Manager, Mr Roosevelt Agbodzo, said his outfit would continue to upgrade their skills, and asked them to take full advantage of the initiative.
The West Akyem District Director of the NCCE, Mr Adu Amankwa, asked the artisans to drum home the benefits of their training to attract more tradesmen into the programme.
In another development, a 13-member committee, under the chairmanship of the DCE, Mr Sintim Aboagye, set up to find a solution to the poor performance of pupils of some basic schools in the area at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), has started work.
At its maiden sitting at Asamankese at the weekend, the committee identified some of the factors resulting in the poor performance of the pupils as absenteeism on the part of teachers, inadequate parental care leading to pupils not attending classes, and inadequate classrooms and educational materials.
It would be recalled that all the pupils in 10 junior high schools in the district, namely Adu Kofi Local Authority (L/A), Domeabra L/A, Domeabra Islamic, Akanteng L/A, Kobriso L/A, Topease Methodist ‘A’, Asikasu Roman Catholic, Kantanyensua L/A, Nyankomase Zion and Mepom Takorase L/A, who last sat for the BECE, failed.