An empirical study discussing industrialisation and technical education in Ghana

Industrialisation generally accounts for wealth creation in the economy of a nation. A technician is needed in building an industry and the technician needs to be trained through technical education. Ghana as a developing nation aspiring to develop her industrial capability needs to strategically position its technical education as a key factor. The objective of this paper therefore is to review Ghana’s industrialisation agenda and its technical educational system toward establishing an industrial base as a future cultural heritage. The soft operations methodology of ethnography, which is gaining much popularity in Production and Operations Management (POM), was adapted for this study. The findings, among other things, revealed a high interest in industrialising the Ghanaian economy, which is characterised by an absence of a policy framework for technology development to feed the industry. This is coupled with a disconnection of formal education from application of indigenous knowledge in production methods. This therefore calls for a policy-shift to build a comprehensive technical and vocational education and training (TVET) curriculum with linkage to culture for industrial growth.