Chamber of Mines engages students on skills needed for job market

The Director of External Relations and Communications at the Ghana Chamber of Mines (GCM), Ahmed Nantogmah, has reminded tertiary students of the need to read programmes that will make them competitive in the job market.

According to him, the solution to the problem of graduate unemployment is the need for continuing tertiary students to read entrepreneurial programmes.

Ahmed Nantogmah was addressing a forum organized by the Ghana Chamber of Mines in collaboration with the Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment of the University for Development Studies (UDS), Nyankpala campus in the Tolon district of the Northern Region.

He said, “Considering the rate at which the world is becoming more globalized with the introduction of new and fast forms of technological instruments which quicken and increase productivity at the workplace, the modern day student must acquire more relevant skills in order to stay relevant when employed.”

“There are many jobs in the mining sector in Ghana. In 2017, the sector directly employed 10, 503 people of which 159 representing 1.5% were expatriates. Indirect employment alone is about 15 times that of the direct employment.”

He added that, “employment in the sector is very competitive and in order to get a job one must be multi-skilled and able to do something with the skills he/she has. It’s not enough to have a degree in engineering, accounting or environmental science. You must prove that you’re capable of doing the job before you’re employed.”

The Dean of the Faculty of Natural Resources and Environment, Dr. Elliot Alhassan, lauded the GCM’s move and called for deeper collaboration between the two institutions.

“I am appealing to the GCM to intensify the level of collaboration between us by establishing what could be called the Ghana Chamber of Mines Centre for Environmental Excellence where faculty members and their students can conduct relevant research pertaining to the natural environment.”

Other participants at the forum implored the GCM to give students grants to conduct research related to the mining sector.

They further called for scholarship packages to enable them to pursue local and international postgraduate programmes on the mining sector.

By: Abdul Karim Naatogmah/citinewsroom.com/Ghana

Source: citifmonline.com