?to minimize graduate unemployment
BY Abubakari Seidu Ajarfor,
The Ghana National Service Scheme (GNSS) have earmarked a stakeholder platform that seeks to bring together about 400 organizations and stakeholders, politicians, policy makers and Youth advocates to share ideas and ways of minimizing graduate unemployment in Ghana.
The upcoming stakeholder conference will address importance issues relating to the scheme and to provide an insight into programmes, projects, deployments, milestones and challenges of the scheme.
However, the focus of the conference is geared towards deriving maximum utilization of the skills, talents and innovativeness of the young graduates for national development.
The conference scheduled for August 7th, will address the weaknesses in the deployments and how to explore the other avenues of funding to make the scheme more viable and sustainable.
The Executive Director of the National Service Scheme, Alhaji Imoro Alhassan said the National Service Scheme is fully aware of the nightmares and grievances of these graduates especially after service.
?We as a scheme have therefore considered it necessary to engage our stakeholders, especially the user agencies to think through and develop ideas to minimize the graduate unemployment,? the Executive Director told the media.
The Executive Director stress that scheme took advantage of the governments Youth in Agriculture programme and has embarked on vigorous agricultural and entrepreneurial programmes to imbibe the concept of agriculture in the youth.
He noted these projects have successfully engaged the youth and today, the scheme have indeed established the principle of co-operatives as spelt out in the National Service Act 426(1980).
Where, he said service personnel who have completed their national service have set up 50 acres at Ejura in the Ashanti Region.
He noted another challenge is the continuous rejection of some service personnel posted to some private and government institutions however the scheme is developing a Legal Instrument (LI) that will give the support and mandate to regulate these institutions for total commitment and compliance.
According to him, whereas few organizations absorbs National Service personnel posted to them, there are many others who still refuses to employ the services after expiration of their national service with the pretends that there are no vacancies.
The upcoming GNSS 2014 stakeholder conference is conceived under the theme, ?Building Entrepreneurial and Employable Youth for National Development: The Role of the National Service Scheme and Stakeholders.?
The strategy is to position and establish the GNSS stakeholder?s forum as Ghana?s leading youth forum that addresses critical issues affecting the youth like service volunteerism, empowerment and patriotism.
However, to exploit the non-profit status of the NSS to secure support for the event earmarked at the National Theatre on 7th August, 2014.
The Punch Newspaper
