NSS implements employment policy for personnel - The Daily Statesman Newspaper

The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Osei Assibey Antwi, has disclosed that his outfit has commenced the implementation of a new system to offer more service personnel with skills and hands-on entrepreneurial training to make them ready for the job market, and also help them establish their own businesses.

The move, which he sees as a major boost to the government’s employment generation agenda, also comes with an electronic job platform to absorb all completing personnel and appropriately match their skill sets for companies in need of their services.

Mr Assibey Antwi, who announced this at a stakeholder conference in Accra, said the scheme is currently liaising with various user agencies in ensuring that a significant number of personnel who excel are employed after service period.

The conference, which attracted over 300 principals and registrars of both public and private tertiary educational institutions, was on the theme “Strengthening GNAA Database Through Digitilisation for Efficient Deployment”.

He said the deployment drive falls within their new vision of not only deploying the personnel but ensuring that they become self-employed, offering employment for others, and also be ready for employment under broader scheme of “Deployment for Employment”

Collaboration with entities

Already, the scheme is in collaboration with some tertiary institutions and corporate entities that has led to the establishment of various models such as estate development, computer applications and software development, among others.

Some of the models for training and employment include Pathways to Sustainable Employment (PaSE) Project Ghana Tech Lab (GTL), which is currently training a lot of service personnel in mobile apps and websites building skills; Venture Building Programme, which is grooming personnel with entrepreneurship skills.

Ghana Export Promotion Authority (GEPA) is also offering entrepreneurship and other skills training required to create products which can be exported outside Ghana.

Other programmes include the GNSS and Ghana Enterprises Agency collaboration for the training of personnel in entrepreneurship and the provision of support in various business fields in the country; the Stanbic Graduate Transition Support Programme (GTSP), which is currently providing sustainable financial support for personnel in the areas of financial literacy and business development.

The rest are the NSS-GTA Support Programme, which has currently deployed 677 personnel to support the development of tourism in the country; Youth in Greenhouse Enterprise Project, which is training personnel in agri-business; and NSS Construction and Housing Project, which is training personnel to embark on construction of real estate housing.

Innovations

Mr Assibey Antwi emphasised that even though the scheme is not deviating from the dictates of Act 426 (1980), it is determined to be innovative in meeting the socio-economic needs of the Ghanaian graduate.

“Over the years, we have traditionally deployed personnel for their national service after which many of them are left without meaningful employment,” he noted, adding that to close this gap, management had engaged the services of a consultant to draft a policy document.

He also indicated that, over the years, tertiary institutions had submitted their class list on pen drives, through emails, and hand copies, which were susceptible to manipulation, increased potential errors due to multiple desk top processing, delayed processing due to time spent correcting mistakes and causing stress to the graduates.

He explained that the new NSS digitalised class list submission system offers secured interactive platform for the institutions and his outfit to ensure smooth, efficient and effective way to provide secured and real time data.

The Board Chairman of the NSS, Nee Odoi Tetteyfio, called for closer collaboration with the stakeholders, especially the tertiary institutions, in ensuring the new direction of the scheme to provide e-platform for collecting information is successful.

This, he explained, would also aid in the provision of entrepreneurial and skills set to ensure that the personnel become the next wealth and employment creators for the country

The Director General of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission, Prof Mohammed Salifu, commended the management of NSS for their various initiatives. He said the new system for the submission of the class list provides a huge resource for policymakers and the business community to rely on in their decisions making process.