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Mr Samuel Okudzeto-Ablakwa, Deputy Minister of Education, has expressed concern about the lack of interest of students in vocational and technical education. He said this year, only 2.3 percent of Basic Education Certificate Examinations graduates opted to do vocational and technical courses in Senior High Schools. This, he said, would not help to fill the technological gap that government was trying to address, as part of its developmental agenda. Mr Ablakwa expressed the concern at the launch of the Second Skills Development Fund (SDF) Fair organized by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) for its beneficiaries. The SD, started with a 60-million-dollar funding from the World Bank and DANIDA, is aimed at providing financial support to the private sector, to enable firms upgrade the skills of their employees, and acquire innovative technology that promote production efficiency and competitiveness. The fair showcased the activities and works of selected SDF beneficiaries, which included metal and fabrication works, beauty and cosmetics, textiles, agro-processing, tourism and hospitality, building and constructions, manufacturing, among others. Mr Ablakwa appealed to Senior High School graduates who did not qualify to the Universities, to endeavour to get themselves equipped with technical or vocational training, as government was ever ready to support them. He said Ghana had started bringing in artisans from other countries in West Africa to fill in critical roles because we had not done much in terms of training, but only been paying lip-service to the need to train more people to occupy such critical roles, especially in the oil industry. He appealed to parents to whip up the interest of their children in technical and vocational education, and not to dampen their spirits. He intimated that skills and technology development were very crucial to the development agenda of every country�s industrialization. �It provides the building blocks for the meaningful take off of any industrial revolution by empowering the middle level manpower to propel productivity�, he said. He expressed appreciation to the World Bank and DANIDA, for their financial support towards the establishment of the SDF. He enumerated a number of projects which had been funded by the SDF, and said they include Horseman Shoes, which had begun a collaboration with the KNUST to transfer leather designing and shoe-making skills to interested students. �Such partnerships are what Government has been pursuing to transform our teaming youth from being unemployed job seekers to creative entrepreneurs,� he said. He said the SDF had also supported the development of indigenous industries by funding the acquisition of innovative skills to increase the quality of output to global standards, and create avenues for business growth and competitiveness,� he said. He mentioned the Tamale Smock Weavers Association, Asuogyaman Soap Makers, and the Sirigu Women Organisation for Pottery and Arts, as some of the organisations which had been helped under the SDF project. �Also 1,000 members of the Ghana Association of Electrical Contractors are currently being supported by SDF to train and acquire skills in solar PV system installation and maintenance at the Ghana Technology University College�, he said. He said the fund, among other things, had been working towards the realization of Government�s agenda to finding a lasting solution to the age-old problem of irrelevant curriculum or training content in our training institutions. �This has been done by providing funding for training institutions to develop innovative curriculum and training modules in skills areas required by industry or private sector to become competitive�, he added. He said the total grants commitment from SDF had increased from GH�40 million since last year to GH�87.2 million to 511 firms, institutions and organisation this year.