Technical Education and Employment of Pre-university Technical Graduates in the Bolgatanga Municipality of Ghana

Abstract

The study sought to find out how far technical education has been able to solve unemployment among technical graduates of pre-university institutions in the Bolgatanga Municipality of Ghana. A sample of fifty responders, comprising forty technical graduates who completed their pre-university education in 1998 and ten employers of such graduates, where selected for the study in the Bolgatanga Municipality. Snowballing was used to identify the 1998 batch of technical graduates of pre-university education and their employers in the Bolgatanga Municipality. A random sampling procedure was employed to select the study sample finally. A 20 item instrument was used to collect data from the technical graduates of pre-university institutions on dimensions such as the background characteristics of the graduates, employment status of the graduates, jobs performed by the graduates, time taken by the graduates to get employment, and the satisfaction the graduates get from performing their jobs. Also, a 10 item instrument was used to collect data from employers of the technical graduates on the theoretical knowledge and practical skills of the graduate and performance of the graduates at work. Frequency counts and percentages were used to analyze the data collected. Based on the data analyzed, the study found that unemployment is still prevalent among pre-university technical graduates against a background of low female enrollment into technical programmes at the pre-university level and inadequate practical skill among pre-university technical graduates.

Keywords: Technical education, technical graduate, unemployment, job, skills, education reform, and vocationalization.