NYEP Sacks 43,300

By Samuel Boadi
OVER 23,000 teaching assistants, 13,000 health assistants, 4,500 interns and 2,800 community protection assistants have been asked to vacate their posts under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP) to pave way for other applicants to also benefit.
Abuga Pele, former MP for Chiana Paga and CEO of NYEP, disclosed this to the media Wednesday in Accra, stated that the measure has become necessary in order to de-clog the programme.
“It is not in the interest of the youth who join the programme to stay in it perpetually since it is not a formal job and does not provide a lifetime job such as social security, pensions, etc. The government therefore does not want to consign the youth to a situation where they have to live on stipends for life. I must emphasise that it is a stop-gap measure designed to prepare them for the job market and permanent job placements.”
Noting that the programme had so far registered nearly one million youth, Mr Pele indicated that the programme has given room for those who want to re-apply to do so for a second consideration but only if the need and opportunity arose.
According to him, the second opportunity was created because there was no immediate exit plan prepared for these youth by the previous administration.
“What was not though of by the previous administration was an exit plan for these youth who have served the two-year tenure. So the questions agitating the minds of the public relate to the fate of those youth who exit again into the unemployed situation where they emerged from.”
It is against this backdrop that the CEO mentioned the NYEP had developed and was implementing exit plans in collaboration with the relevant ministries and agencies, as well as professionals in the field, to enable the exit of the current beneficiaries and potential beneficiaries, in a structured way and into a more meaning life.
Currently, NYEP owes exiting interns 2 months salary while in the case of community protection assistants they are being owed 4 months salary. And the programme needs GH¢4.4 million monthly to offset these debts.
Touching on the exit plan for health extension workers, he said his outfit and the Ministry of Health as well as its agencies had had thorough discussions on the health extension workers for which reason 30 percent of the beneficiaries would be absorbed into diploma and certificate courses to upgrade them. Out of this number, those who have the requisite qualifications would be admitted into a diploma course while those who do not have the qualification but have exhibited competence would be admitted into certificate courses.
Fifty percent of the beneficiaries would be absorbed directly into the Ghana health Services as ward assistants while 10 percent would be absorbed by private health institutions through memoranda of understanding. The last 10 percent would be given priority in the trades and vocation module of NYEP. Additionally, some countries have also approached the programme to outsource the beneficiaries to them and discussion is ongoing to explore its feasibility in Botswana among others.
In the case of community education and teaching assistants, Mr Pele said the Ministry of Education would absorb them in colleges of education, untrained teacher diploma in basic education (with sponsorship), pupil teacher recruitment, technical and vocational institutions for apprenticeship and recruitment by private institutions. Those who have not been absorbed by the Ministry of Education would be given priority under the trades and vocation module of NYEP.
A number of youth in the community protection assistants who have exhibited good character and have minimum qualification, have been screened and selected for subsequent enlistment into the police service. The rest are to be absorbed into private security services across the country.
“All youth under the interns’ module who have had the two year tenure have been exited as at the end of January 2010. Many have been absorbed by their respective organisations while the rest are encouraged to re-apply for consideration,” the NYEP boss revealed.
Saluting the exitees for their outstanding contributions to the country, he said a bill - NYEP Bill, would soon be placed in Parliament to really give meaning to youth employment in Ghana.