The Ghana National Service Scheme (GNSS) have engaged its stakeholders and user agencies to find lasting ways of reducing graduate unemployment in the country.
By doing so, the Scheme in collaboration with the Ghana Education Service and user agencies have come out with the most promising ideas that will whip the entrepreneurial spirit of post national service personnel in order to minimize the graduate unemployment.
Unemployment fear in the country is becoming more alarming and this has become more increasingly a worry and a stampede to the country’s development.
During the preliminary session of the conference, the challenge that has always remained as the weakness was the inability of these young graduates to create their own jobs in order to become masters of their kind.
It came up that, the nature of the courses offered them in the various universities and the polytechnics left these young graduates without any practical skills and innovative ideas (like disciples without the bible) into the world of business therefore, making it very difficult for them to fit in the fast technological advanced job market.
As a result, these young graduates without the required practical knowledge and skills comes out chasing for the fewer jobs in the market whereas majority are not qualified to pick up those jobs based on inexperience.
The National Service Scheme, since its inception in 1973, have deployed about 80,000 national service personnel into various sectors of our economy as an entry point of these graduates into the world of work and business.
Where they are expected to gain experience, build their capabilities interms of additional skills acquisition, imbibe in them the spirit of patriotism to propel them unto the job market.
The most frequently and often asked question is ‘after national service what next’, the Executive Director of the Ghana National Service Scheme (GNSS), Alhaji Alhassan Imoro noted that this question can best be answered when opportunities are created to give hope for the young graduates after service.
“Many organizations that use these graduates find them useful and in many cases absorb them after national service. However, there are many of these service personnel that are not absorbed. Should we allow them to be continuously hunted by the streets?” he asked rhetorically.
According to the Executive Director, the national service scheme has taken the steps to build the entrepreneurial skills of these young graduates so that they can create their own jobs and other business ventures in the outside world.
By way of doing this, the scheme have taken advantage of the governments’ Youth in Agricultural Programme and have encourage the post service personnel to take advantage of the entrepreneurial skills development modules through the agricultural projects.
He noted that the project have actively engaged the youth and with the co-operative formed for the personnel who completed their national service.
The Executive Director said this at the 14th stakeholders’ conference of the National Service Scheme which was held under the theme “Training Entrepreneurial and Employable Youth for National Development-the role of the Ghana National Service Scheme and stakeholders.”
During his speech, he said the conference will offer their stakeholders the opportunity to have an insight into the programmes, projects, achievements and provide solutions to address weaknesses in the deployments and challenges of the scheme.
He was therefore optimistic of the fact that the event will bring together solutions and ideas geared towards deriving maximum utilization of talents, skills and innovation of the young graduates for national development particularly, to reduce graduate unemployment.
The Deputy Minister for Education in-charge of tertiary, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa added that the National Service Act 426 has been subjected to a review process to include compulsory military training for all service personnel.
He said the review of the Act will include a six month compulsory military training within a proposed two year period but this attempt has failed every implementation effort over 38 years now due to resource constraints.
The President of the National Service Personnel Association (NASPA), Vincent Ekow Assafuah Jnr has urged his colleagues to be innovative and work towards creating businesses rather than parading the corridors of institutions looking for non-existence white-colour jobs.
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