MAGAZINE FITTERS SCHOOLED ON AUTO DIAGNOSTICS
A section of the artisans in the classroom with their instructors |
About two
thousand, five hundred chief artisans of the Suame Magazine in Kumasi have
started formal training in Information and Communication Technology, ICT and
Auto Diagnostics to build their skills in maintaining electronic vehicles.
The
training, which is an initiative of the Skills Development Fund, SDF of the
Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training, COTVET to build
the capacity of the artisans to adopt to the fast changing automobile industry
which has seen a change in the vehicles from manual to electronics thereby
threatening the businesses of the automobile artisans in Ghana, especially
those at the Suame Magazine.
The two thousand, five hundred artisans who are
being trained by the Suame Centre of the National Vocational Training
Institute, NVTI in Kumasi, have been grouped into 16 Zones and scheduled to
undergo the theoretical and practical training three weeks each at no cost.
The
trainees will as well be given the hard copy and VCD training manuals that will
help them to study on their own even after the formal training.
NVTI's Executive Director |
At the official
opening ceremony in Kumasi, the Executive Director of the NVTI, Stephen Bismark
Amponsah noted that automobile companies the world over are moving away from
the manufacture of manual to purely
electronic vehicles.
These vehicles, according to Mr. Amponsah thus require
that artisans in the various automobile industry, especially fitters, upgrade
themselves in ICT which is the basis of auto
diagnostics so as to remain in
business in the face of the threat posed to their continuous in business.
Mr.
Amponsah emphasized that the resolve of the NVTI now is to adequately prepare
the youth in technical and vocational skills today to face challenges of
tomorrow’s skills demand.
An official of the Skills Development Fund of COTVET,
Simon Atakpa, explained that the training of the artisans in ICT and Auto
Diagnostics is part of the SDF’s initiatives to create awareness to emphasize
the importance of technical skills to the economy.
The programme, he said, is
to improve on the competences of the artisans to remain in business and also
attract new customers at a time that auto mobile is changing from manual to electronic.
Mr. Atakpa explained that the Suame Magazine has been selected in view of its
strategic location in the Ashanti region where Kumasi Polytechnic, Kumasi
Technical Institute, KNUST and other technical and vocational training institutions
are also located.
The Centre Manager of the Suame NVTI, Richard Addo, disclosed
that already, some of the artisans are being pushed out of business due to
their inability to provide services about the automatic vehicles due to the
lack of knowledge in auto diagnostics.
According to him, the NVTI is already into
the training of auto diagnostics and other automobile training to its students
and is therefore competent enough to provide the artisans with the needed skills.
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