President Mahama (L) and Socrate Safo (R)
Former Director for Creative Arts at the National Commission on Culture (NCC), Socrate Safo, has published an open letter to President John Dramani Mahama.
He has called on the government to reform the country’s education system by prioritising Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) over traditional university degrees.
In the letter, shared on his Facebook account on December 2, 2025, Safo described what he calls “the degree trap,” a system that churns out thousands of university graduates every year, many of whom end up unemployed because their academic credentials don’t match available jobs.
“Our education system is producing more unemployed graduates than our economy can ever absorb. The beautiful dream of university education has become, for many families, a painful trap,” he wrote.
He argued that while families sacrifice heavily for their children to earn degrees, many of these young people return home with certificates but without practical skills or employment.
“After four years of lectures and theory-based learning, these young graduates return home with degrees but no jobs, certificates but no skills, and hope without opportunity. They become dependent not because they are lazy, but because our system failed to prepare them for the world of work,” he said.
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He, instead, proposed a system where universities focus on delivering skills- and trades-based education.
“If we truly want to solve youth unemployment, Ghana must reposition Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) as the foundation of our national development, not as a backup option.
“TVET offers what the economy urgently needs. Practical hands-on skills, Employability, Entrepreneurial readiness, Self-reliance, and Real-world competence,” he said.
Safo argued that such a pivot would not only equip young people with real-world competence but would also boost innovation, self-reliance, and entrepreneurship.
“If our universities become skill factories rather than certificate factories, Ghana will quickly produce innovators, technicians, creative artisans, digital builders, industrial workers, problem solvers and entrepreneurs,” he claimed.
His call comes at a time when the government has already taken steps to raise the profile of TVET.
In 2025, the Ministry of Education inaugurated a new governing board for the Ghana Technical and Vocational Education and Training Service (GTVETS), part of a wider push to position TVET as a central pillar of national development.
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