National Apprenticeship Programme Will Benefit All Interested Youth – Bono Minister

Mr Joseph Addae Akwaboah, the Bono Regional Minister, has given the assurance that the government’s National Apprenticeship Programme (NAP) will benefit all interested young people across the country.

The NAP, a major government initiative, seeks to address youth unemployment, close the skills gap, and promote economic growth. It provides free, high-quality apprenticeship training to equip young people with industry-relevant technical, vocational, and entrepreneurial skills.

Beneficiaries will receive nationally recognised certification and pathways to employment or self-employment in priority sectors such as agriculture, manufacturing, ICT, fashion, construction, renewable energy, and traditional crafts.

Mr Akwaboah said government remained committed to tackling the growing unemployment challenge, noting that nearly 1.2 million Ghanaians aged between 15 and 35 years were unemployed or under-employed. While the unemployment rate for those aged 15 to 24 years stood at about 5.4 percent, recent estimates placed unemployment and under-employment as high as 38.8 percent, with almost 70 percent of the youth engaged in the informal sector.

The Minister gave the assurance at the induction of about 700 apprentices under the NAP in Sunyani. The apprentices, drawn from all 12 administrative districts and municipalities of the Bono Region, will undergo competency-based training in industry-relevant skills to prepare them for gainful employment and entrepreneurship.

He reaffirmed government’s commitment to enrolling 10,000 beneficiaries nationwide in trade areas that directly respond to labour market demands, including agriculture and agro-processing, traditional crafts, arts and creative trades, cosmetology, hospitality, ICT, and emerging digital skills.

Mr Akwaboah added that the apprentices would be provided with personal protective equipment, learning tools at the start of training, and start-up toolkits with continued mentorship at the end, to help them transition smoothly into self-employment and small enterprises.

He stressed that training alone was not enough, hence the NAP policy had also introduced a comprehensive apprenticeship monitoring and evaluation framework to track implementation and results effectively.

Source:GNA