TVET stigmatization in developing countries: reality or fallacy?

TVET (technical vocational education and training) programmes have been in existence in most developing African countries including Ghana for decades. But their intended productive and inventive output of producing readily employable and or self-employable graduates, and serving as a real economic bail out for the deteriorating economies in Africa is yet to be achieved. This worrying development has culminated in a stigmatization towards the study of the TVET programmes in higher institutions in Ghana. This paper therefore explores briefly the historicity of TVET in Ghana, including the tertiary-based TVET institutions (particularly, polytechnics and universities). Through in-depth inquiry, this paper investigates the root cause of the stigmatization and its concomitant effects on the nation, the learners and the higher institutions of training in such programmes. Using comparative analytical methodology, the study revealed that there is: curriculum deficiency in TVET programmes; logistical challenge due to inadequate funding; poor linkage of TVET to industry; an unfair trend of inappropriate categorization of graduates on the field; and a continuous chain of leadership crisis. The paper recommends more dynamic, innovative and modern curriculum review to include product and industrial design courses such as animation, game design, robotics, interior decoration, multimedia design, aircraft, automobile and ship design, structural and industrial painting and medical engineering.

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