Plan Ghana and KOICA to train youth in automobile skills

Plan Ghana in collaboration with Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA) and the Hyundai Motors International Company, on Monday performed a ground breaking ceremony at the Gratis Centre in Koforidua for the construction of a two-storey building for the training of the Youth in automobile skills.

The 700,000-dollar facility to be called Hyundai-KOICA-Gratis dream is expected to be completed by the end of July and would focus on the training of Junior High School and Senior High School graduates to meet the current trend of new technologies in the automobile world.

The skills training centre would set up a network for good job recruiting by Hyundai Motors Company and would align with the Ghana Education Service (GES) curriculum for Vocational and Technical Training.

The first batch of 300 students would be enrolled at the end of September in conformity with the GES calendar.

The Korean Ambassador, Mr Kyun Jea-Min, who broke the ground with the Eastern Regional Minster, Dr Kwasi Akyem Apea-Kubi, and heads of the collaborating agencies, said the gesture to train Ghanaian youths in automobile skills to meet the requirements of the world market in Ghana was as a result of the best relationship that existed between the two countries.

He said Korea deemed it fit to support the developmental agenda of the Ghanaian economy and would continue to look for avenues that would ensure that the Youth were employed to contribute meaningfully to national development.

Mr Prem Schukar, the Country Director of Plan Ghana, whose outfit facilitated the project under its vocational and technical education development said, Plan Ghana attached great importance to the training of the youth and the reality of the automobile training indicated its level of commitment to technical and vocational education.

He indicated that in the next five years, Plan Ghana’s education programmes would support the Government to increase access to quality education with emphasis on school enrolment, retention and completion to ensure that all children at least had access to basic education prior to vocational or technical training.

The Africa Regional Headquarters Representative for Hyundai Motors Company, Mr Lee, Jang Ho, said the project would also focus on the training of mechanics to be able to meet the world market demands.

He said the Hyundai Motors would offer the training to meet their standards to ensure that at least 20 per cent of all persons that received training from the facility would be employed by the company as their contribution to alleviating the unemployment situation in Ghana.

The Regional Minster, Dr Apea-Kubi, said the project was the first of its kind to be introduced in Ghana and hoped it would benefit the Youth in the region and the nation at large. GNA