As UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay rightly noted, Africa must rethink its approach to education, focusing more on STEM and TVET
At the recently ended China-Africa TVET Cooperation Consortium Annual Conference 2024 and the China-Africa-UNESCO High-Level Dialogue on Cooperation in Education and Cultural Heritage Protection held this month in Beijing, I had the privilege of representing the Commission for TVET.
The event, under the theme “Partnering for a Shared Future – Empowering TVET Development through Collective Effort,” brought together 80 distinguished guests, including government officials (among them ministerial representatives), academics, practitioners from both Africa and China and representatives from China-Africa TVET Cooperation Consortium (CATCC) member institutions.
The dialogue highlighted the commitment to fostering collaboration in the technical and vocational education and training (TVET) sector between China and Africa.
One of the notable presentations revealed that China has over 8,000 TVET institutions, producing more than three million graduates annually, thus about 70% of the country’s total graduates each year.
There’s a famous saying: “Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime.” In the same way, nurturing TVET is not only about shaping talent, but also about cultivating creativity and diversity, transforming individuals from mere human capital to dynamic human resources.
China’s rapid technological and economic development is largely due to its heavy investment in TVET. Their collaboration with Africa is aimed at enhancing student skills by positioning TVET as a key driver for Africa’s development.
This is why, over the last seven years, Ghana has invested significantly and introduced transformative policies to elevate skills training in the TVET landscape.
As UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay rightly noted, Africa must rethink its approach to education, focusing more on STEM and TVET.
The first President of Ghana, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, once said, “We want thinkers of great thoughts, doers of great deeds; we need lectures, theories, knowledge, but we must blend these with hands-on application and skills training.” His words resonate even more today.
In my view, there is a clear call for African leaders to prioritize the development of TVET knowledge and youth skills for the long-term progress of our continent.
The Commission for TVET (CTVET) at the visit facilitated the signing of an MoU between Zhejiang Polytechnic University of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering (ZIME), one of China’s top ten TVET institutions and Bolgatanga Technical University in Ghana.
This partnership underscores the importance of collective effort in achieving far-reaching development. As the African proverb goes: “If you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together.”
