Technical Vocational Education Training and Issues of Upgrading. Special Case study of Catering and Hospitality

Education is one of the main drives of a nation’s development. However, Technical Vocation Education Training has been relegated to the background especially in the currier development in the area of Catering and Hospitality industry. This study sought to assess the academic barrier and provide the path for currier development. Mixed method approach was adopted in the conduct of this study. It was revealed that Technical Vocational Education Training was seen as the last option for parents to recommend for their wards. It was recommended that parents should be psyched to see the essence of vocational training and the opportunities that their wards might gain by choosing this option.

jobs after completing than the vocational programmes especially catering which lacks job opportunities and also requires some capital to start a self-employed business. He also asserted that, the enthusiasm of government dwindled towards TVET programmes including catering due to low enrolments and the high cost of buildings, equipment, facilities and staff involved in its establishment as compared to the academic institutions. This sector (TVET) has gradually been overlooked and has brought some deficiencies in manpower development in Ghana. The neglect of TVET especially catering will cause a reduction in the country's GDP and GNP generally; because travel, tourism, recreation and hospitality has become increasingly important in the economic life of the vast majority of countries and Ghana is no exception, the need for well-trained operatives and managers to fill various positions in the catering and hospitality industry cannot be over-emphasized (Ceserani and Kinton, 2007).
The vision of Ghana's Tourism industry to expand by the year 2020 and to attract large numbers of people visiting this country is more dependent on the physiological fulfillment of tourists as stated in Maslow's hierarchy of needs model, and these will be sustained through Catering and Hospitality Industry activities in executing various services to visitors, contributing to the growth of Ghana's socioeconomic development. The long term vision 2020 Tourism Development Plan clearly projected that, there will be about 36 million international tourist visiting Africa by 2010 and about ten times of the international tourist figure for domestic tourism by the year 2020 (Tourism Development Plan -Vision 2020). However, research shows that though there has been an increase of travelers and international tourist very little has been done to curb the problem of hospitality and catering.

Problem Statement+
The globalization of businesses and the cosmic growth in technology, communication, transport, tourist, sociocultural changes and global economic development have put the catering and the hospitality industry under pressure in request for sophisticated product and quality service delivery. Ceserani and Kinton (2007), pointed out that, hospitality and catering management involve the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of human and material resources within it and demands highly qualified people trained in catering and hospitality management to fill the various segments available. This is why the researcher deems it appropriate to call for the help of all stakeholders to up lift the image of TVET. Even though there is a high demand for quality delivery, majority of catering and hospitality workers still hold basic certificates with no traces of managerial elements at the work places because; they lack information about further studies, staff work under poor conditions and inequitable working times, low salary income and lack of access to institutions to further their education. In spite of the demand for quality delivery and service, most parents have formulated a negative perception about TVET over the years and it is still at the high side, hindering TVET enrolment of brilliant children.
Again, the only 29 government vocational institutions available in the country's curriculum does not permit vocational students to gain straight admission into tertiary institutions to pursue any academic course after the advanced certificate in the practical domain. Furthermore, many vocational students are still ending their education at the basic levels making them unfit for the managerial positions in the hospitality industry, due to the demand for the entry requirement which does not favour vocational students (tertiary education demands English, Mathematics and Science (EMS) which does not form part of the vocational syllabus). The vocational student has to wait or be working under scanty salary until he/she is 25 years and above before he/she can apply and be considered as a matured candidate to write an entrance examination which is likely to reduce most people's interest in the process. Additionally, these managerial positions in the hospitality industry which are supposed to be managed by people with professional knowledge with managerial competencies are denied tertiary education, leaving these positions for people from the academia holding HNDs and degrees of different spheres taking up such positions without any knowledge on the nitty-gritty of the catering and hospitality profession which has led to poor service delivery in the hotels, restaurants and at the various food joints. Again, there are no clear-cuts for the TVET students; especially the catering students who attend a vocational school after Junior High School (JHS) education will find it very difficult as compared to their counterparts who pursue Senior High School education after JHS in gaining access into the tertiary institutions.

Objectives of the study
The objectives of this study is to;  Identify stakeholders and their relation in the development of TVET education  Examine government policy on technical vocational education training and major implementation barriers  Identify academic progression barriers to catering students and workers in such of higher education  Develop an academic progression path for catering students and workers.

The Scope of the study
The scope of the study focused on New Juaben Municipality in the Eastern Region of Ghana and the institutions

LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1. Introduction
The study seeks to discover the knowledge and the perception that stakeholders have established on Technical and Vocational Education Training with reference to the job market and the socio-economic factors. As well as the barriers that hinders the progression of vocational students in the educational race. TVET is a set of career providing entities that gives to it members skills in specific fields for human development and manpower to fill industries.

History of Education in Ghana
In the 17 th century, when formal education was mainly reading, writing and leadership, a committee on education criticized against the content of the curriculum and suggested that, the time that was being wasted on rote learning and memorization should be revised. They indicated that, things that would benefit the people around or the community and the country as a whole should be taught, such as technical, vocational and agricultural subjects. On the contrary to this, the natives saw education as a waste of time, because to them sitting down reading or writing was a waste, and did not allow their children to attend a formal school. Of which most of them were persuaded before they released their children, especially where the Basil missionaries went. The Fanti Confederation, in 1871 suggested the introduction of vocational oriented schools at the time which was to help the social and economic development in the colony, and this was to prepare scholars as carpenters, masons, sawyers, jointers, agriculturists, builders and others for manpower development. Unfortunately the elites in the society wanted academic education for their wards that will lead them to the award of degrees in British universities in order for them to have the opportunity into gaining white colour jobs. These elites opposed the technical and vocational education, because they suspected that vocational and agricultural courses were being introduced in Africa to keep them in an inferior position in society. This was supported by the local press, African members of the legislative council as well as chiefs and the educated class. And no attempt was made by the natives to establish these schools (Kwabena Gyan-Budu, 2012). Walter also observed that, one of the functions of education is to promote social change and that Pre-colonial African education was relevant to Africans, it had close links with Africans social life and it was directly connected with the purposes of society. He stated that, colonial education did not grow out of the African environment neither was it designed to promote the most rational use of material and social resources. He further stated that, in introducing the western education the curriculum designed did not consider to give confidence and pride to young people as members of African society. Similarly, Geoffrey (1966), also expressed his concern about the need for Ghana to accept the educational system of the College of Land Grant of the United States to help in developing the natural resources in the country through the education of it citizens on how to explore and exploit these natural resources to the benefit of their community and the country as a whole. He said the College of Land Grant of the United States trained farmers, economics, journalist, engineers, industrialist, etc. who came out to give their support in the developing of their nation. With reference to education in Ghana, Forster (1965) likewise stated that; when Ghanaian elites took up the positions of their colonial masters after independence, it was mainly administrative and supervisory roles, none of which involved them in manual activities. The Ghanaian elites who formed the top management maintained the stratified groupings and the technicians were never accorded parity with the administrative class. He continued by saying that, when the United States of America (U.S A) sought to change their educational system to meet the socio-economic development, the Federal government inquest in the utilitarian educational system and pursued it. On the same issue Gyan-Budu also noted that, among the wellknown universities in the U.S.A. which are held in high esteem for their contributions in the production of intellectuals their system still made provision for utilitarian education and provided a vast array of vocational courses, and set aside portions of its research activities to practical community needs. Ghana as a developing nation needs to support its people to be imbued with practical activities that are relevant to the society. Gyan-Budu (2012), again quoted the speech of one commissioner saying that: the best way to inculcate the culture of science education into Ghanaians is to programme the curriculum such that it will form part of the children's studies during an early age education, to provide ample opportunities for technical training in the various vocations pertinent to the development of the land, industries and health of the country, the government should provide grant for special schools such as; mechanics, carpenters, caterers, engine-drivers, artisans, nurses, dispensers, midwives, sanitary inspectors, electricians, tele-graphists, agriculturalists, foresters, surveyors, and ultimately for engineers and doctors. Gyan-Budu (2012), explained that early establishers of formal education to include vocational training were the Basel Missionaries, they opened a school in the Akropong Akuapim in the Eastern region and it was aimed at developing a system of agricultural and vocational training to assist in the development of the colony. Emphases were laid on manual activities on the farm and residential training in vocational education. He also said that, the development of Ghana the then Gold Coast has been the desire of many of our colonial masters and their successors after independence, because people such as Sir John P. Rodger 1908, Phelps-Stokes 1920 -1924, Gordon Guggisberg (1920), and the Director of Education in the colony at the time 1922 and many others found that; vocational and agricultural education was the best means to socioeconomic development in Gold Coast now Ghana. In the colonial era, Technical schools were opened by government at Mampong, Kibi, Aduansi, and Yendi to supplement the government technical schools in Accra as indicated by Kwabena Gyan-Budu (2012). In 1987 Technical and vocational education was introduced into JHS curriculum aimed at giving children technical and vocational skills from the on-set, yet the entire programme has however become academic and theoretical ( Amofa, 1999). Gyan-Budu (2012), added that in 2002 Professor Anamoah-Mensah recommended the re-organisation of vocational and agriculture education when his commission was task to make recommendations for the rejuvenation of vocational and technical education in the country but nothing of that has yet popped up.
He also expressed his sentiment on how the first president of Ghana, Dr. Kwame Nkrumah and other subsequent leaders, showed their concern in vocational training while drafting the statutes governing the public universities in Ghana, which clearly aimed at utilitarian orientation, again the utilitarian's aims and objectives in the statutes in establishing the public university had common interest in educating people in areas that would be beneficial to the society. The aims include among other things blending the academic world with that of the community in order to provide constructive interaction between the two for the total development of Northern Ghana in particular and the country as a whole, hence the establishment of the University for Development Studies and Achimota School (Kwabena Gyan-Budu, 2012) The Study Methodology Sample Size and techniques adopted A sample size of 80 respondents was selected from Koforidua Polytechnic restaurant, St. Georges' Vocational institute, Capital View hotel, Eredec hotel and Sophisticat catering service. Others are Linda Dor Restaurant, Hollywood Vocational Catering Training Centre as well as Onyame Bekyere Chop Bar. This comprised of students, workers of the selected organizations, Heads of departments / Managers and teaching staff of the selected institutions. The simple random sampling technique was used by randomly selecting the heads, workers and students that formed the group under the study during the research period.

FINDINGS, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS TVET education sponsorship
There has been an established fallacy that catering and hospitality education is expensive to attend but lacks attractive pay in the labour market. The question of sponsorship was raised to find out how this group of people managed to bear all expenses throughout their education and the way forward. The respondents were requested to indicate the sponsors of their carrier as indicated by figure 4.1. The greater number of the respondents representing 54% were those who said they were single-handedly cared for by their mothers and some also said their fathers. Again, 21% were individuals sponsoring themselves, whilst 19% sponsored by both parents and 3% rated for spouse with 3% who said they tried to help themselves through philanthropist and some family members. Figure 4.1 clearly shows that just few parents collectively agree to support their wards to pursue vocational education and this explains the fact that parents will hardly agree to spend huge amounts of money on an unattractive career. Therefore, only single parents will push their children into a vocation to acquire kills within a short period to enable them start working to become independent.

Reasons for pursuing Catering and Hospitality
Vocational education is said to be an area for drop-outs and for people who have no one to sponsor them in formal schools and are therefore compelled to go into a vocational training Table 4.2 shows that more than half (42, 54.5%) of the respondents rated their reason to be self-interest whereas (16,20.8%) rated to be self-employed. Also, (15,19.5%) rated their reason as to gain access to employment in the job market. On the other hand, 3 respondents representing 3.9% rated that they had no choice whilst 1.3% was without any reason for being in the profession. 100 It is evident that in table 4.2, self-interest was the motive drive for them to pursue the catering course. Therefore, there is an indication that people will only pursue this course where there is some intrinsic motivating drive but not as a hailed career. Forty per cent (40%) of the respondents went into the profession with the view of being self-employed or be employed by someone. Perhaps it might be as a result of lack of sponsor or out of frustration they just wanted to be trained to work with it for a living.

Government Policy on TVET education
The catering and hospitality as a sub-set under TVET within the broad banks of the Ministry of Education under the control and directions of government and policy makers has faced several challenges rending its graduates unfit for further education at the tertiary level, though it is under the control of the same government that controls the academic education. This is why the researcher wanted to fine out from the members of this research who are in the industry about their view on the policies set for vocational education. .3% said they strongly agree to the fact that the policies are good and it favours TVET, similarly, 9.3% also said they think the policies are good for TVET education. However, 36% disagreed to the fact that Government Policy on education favours TVET. In addition, 33.3% strongly disagree to the question posed that government policy favours TVET. To them the policies set did not consider their progression in the long term but narrowed their progression lines. 6.5% rated that they neither agree nor disagree, whilst 9.3% said they had no idea about government policies and it relation to vocational education. All indications from the viewpoints of respondents show that polices by government do not favour TVET education and there are even some people who do not

ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSIONS 4.2. Stakeholders' identification
This part of the discussions would be looking at the four main stakeholders and their needs as well as their role in TVET development.
Fourteen stakeholders have been identified in this study out of it four would be discussed and are coded from 'A' to 'D'. However, these four are selected because they have been recognized by the respondents to have a greater impact in the development of TVET education. And for the benefit of this research, emphasis would be laid on the areas of government's commitment in its policy implementation and development as well as the functions of institutions and employers and again the society's perception towards TVET education. Below is an outline of stakeholders in TVET development; A. Institutions Tertiary Institutions are fed with students form the second cycle institutions through the traditions of the educational systems in Ghana and are in a chronological sequence and ranges from the Kindergarten through to the primary and continues to the junior high school and right through to the senior high school.
The progression of students to the JHS and the SHS is via external examinations and are selected based on their performance in grades ranging from aggregate 6 -36. After completing the senior high, qualified candidates are enrolled into various tertiary institutions for which the vocational student is exempted.
The disparities in the structures of educational systems give priority for only academic students to school to the latter but on the contrary relegates vocational education among others with the excuse that the setting up of academic institutions are more cost-effective as compared to the vocational institutions. However, the benefit of a discipline like the vocational sector cannot be sidelined if a country is in business to be developed through the production of quality manpower for labour force, therefore policy makers should not look at the short term cost that is involved but rather consider the long term benefit that the nation will enjoy at the long run.
Furthermore, there is no room for entry for vocational students in the tertiary institutions because of the narrow educational structure drawn by government which only prepares them for just three years after JHS as the highest level in academia and said to be the best for the world of work and cannot use the certificate obtained to seek for further studies in any tertiary institution in Ghana under any circumstance unless the student agrees to start from the scratch of the academic stream. In this instance, the main profession become diluted because the available tertiary institutions are more of theories than pragmatism.
The Review Report of Education Reforms (2002) declared that, as at the time of the compilation of the report there were 474 SHS as against 23 technical and 29 vocational institutes but there were no provisions for apprentice training by the government. Furthermore, even though there are more academic institutions than TVET institutions only 40% of JHS graduates are absorbed into the system yearly leaving the 60% to fend for them-selves though government has no provisions for apprentice-ship training. This is where the problem lays, if the total numbers of vocational institutions are so few and can admit less than half the number of graduates' yearly nationwide then, what happens to the unfortunate ones who could not gain admission? This means that, this 60% will fall prey in the hands of the private school owners and the wayside apprentice-ship masters, so if a candidate's parents cannot afford the gigantic amounts of private vocational schools or pay for the child to learn a trade then that ends the person's dream in self-development.
However, the lack of vocational institutions would be the result of the inadequate amount of money government injects into the education development. The Review Report of Education Reforms (2002) confirms that only about 1% of the Ministry of Education's budget is allocated to the TVET sub-sector while the Ministry of Manpower Development and Employment allocates only 12% to the TVET sector under the Ministry. This is affirmed by the results obtained from this study where over70% of respondents complained bitterly about the few or non-existents of tertiary vocational institutions and the lack of equipment and staff at the basic level to prepare candidate for the world of work as shown in figure 4.5. Again, as shown in figure 4.6 over 80% of the respondents were of the view that the vocational student hardly gains admission into any tertiary institution in Ghana because the institutions are basically studious and have nothing to do with practical oriented candidates. Because the many schools which were established in the name of TVET gradually turned into academic institutions, such as University of Development Studies in the Northern region, Prempeh College in Kumasi, Achimota School in Accra, the Polytechnics, now the technical universities in the regions as well as the introduction of technical vocational courses at the basic school, etc. now as we speak do not have any traces of pragmatism infusion.
This research analysis shows that the TVET sector has been neglected and the effort of stakeholder within the educational system to correct this problem has proved insignificant. The researcher deemed it appropriate to conclude that if systems are not put in place the TEVT sector will continue to suffer and that will affect the functioning of industries and commerce.

B. The Society
Education in any form should shape and change to benefit every child attending school to be a better person in society for a lucrative employment and be self-supportive in life. Because in Ghana, higher certificate is the weather of the day and every parent's wish for the child is to be self-sufficient. Similarly, the highly educated in the society get better job positions and are honoured and hailed. The less educated and the non-educated who take up middle level positions such as the operations, and technicians as well as farming and trading of all kinds have little or no recognition from the society. Gyan-Budu (2012), asserted that, "The success of a policy can be determined by comparing its outcome with its declared objective. It does no good, declaring the worth or otherwise of a person or institution without examining the extent to which that person or institution has succeeded or not in the chosen field of endeavour". Gyan-Budu (2012), again explains that, the objective of TVET education has not been achieved because the society continually reject the idea of TVET and its implementation. Even though lots of efforts have been made by the country's leaders to encourage parents but has failed because the society always consider the many TVET graduates out there struggling to make ends meet and will not willingly accept TVET development. An example is the Fanti Confederation in 1871 which tried to educate the public about the importance of vocational training to help the social and economic development in the colony, with the aim of preparing scholars as carpenters, masons, sawyers, jointers, agriculturists, builders, etc for manpower development but failed because the few elites spoke against its implementation. (Kwabena Gyan-Budu, 2012).
The data collected during this survey clearly indicates that parents will prefer that their children go through the academic educational system that has a broader and higher curriculum structure to an educational system that is likely to kill one's dreams. As shown in figure 4.3, over 70% of the respondents confirmed that vocational education is the least respected in Ghana and hardly will they consider it. Again, table 4.4 explains the displeasure of the society with about 80% confirming that it is very difficult to raise a capital to start a vocational business as compared to academic graduates gaining employment where salaries would be paid at the end of every month with other incentives. Furthermore, the society is of the opinion that a vocational graduate's salary is always at a lower rate as established in figure 4.5. The above discussion shows that the society is against vocational education because of it lacking opportunities for progression and prosperity.

C. Employers
An employer is a legal entity that controls and directs a servant or implied contract of employment and pays or is obligated to pay him or her salary or wages in compensation. Consequently, employers expect a high rate of return of work performance from the employee for which he/she was employed for depending on the type of organisation and sector. However, figure 4.2 has over 75% respondents testifying to the fact that they have been denied their civil rights by their employers especially the private sector for long even though they are always at 29 their service working very hard to sustain their businesses but nothing seems to be working for their effort to be rewarded duly or even be protected by the laws of this country. Although, the nature of the hospitality industry is the rending of intangible services to the general public, table 4.1 shows a large number of about 14% having just elementary certificate with about 4% not having any educational background at all. Because of the intangibility nature of this organisation, stakeholders should be involved in frequent and quality training/retraining and upgrading of it staff and workers in the interest of the sustainability of the industry. Though, employers require quality staff with sophisticated service delivery, hardly will they support a staff to further education in terms of making available the required finances and time for staff development, less giving them moral encouragement. Subsequently, providing hospitality to the public to meet the international standard require the job of professionals and specialist of a higher level for the specific areas which is achieved from quality education and training through planned systems of the educational structures of this country.
From the field survey of this research, over 80% workers in the study areas are holding Grade I&II Certificates and ages between 18 -51 years . During the filed survey, most participants expressed their worry about their employers not abiding by the conditions of service, over working and under payment. Again, it was revealed that industry workers lack information about progression pattern of the vocational educational system because they are not allowed to speak their minds at meeting and may be sanctioned if they are seen being very active in association meetings and so on and that it has dwindled their dreams. Some participants also said they were compelled to work with the low certificate and received low salary with hard labour because they had no choice and could not further their education to expand their knowledge other than to work for so many years with the little knowledge they had form the basic level. The study shows that most of the vocational graduates lack confidence to start a business of their own and in some cases they are unable to raise a capital to start a business even if the confidence is there. According to some, they tried and had to stop and work for someone because of lack of managerial qualities of the business.
Looking at the discussion above, there have been some abnormalities with the curriculum for vocational education which has really limited the flair of its graduates and has gone a long way to reduce the integrity of this sub-sector in the arena of education and job market. The most unfortunate side of it is the low income rate of vocational graduates. This recurring phenomenon is worrying and seems to cut across the Sub-Saharan African countries because in Nigeria, the university graduates are paid as much as six times the money paid to miners. But on the contrary, in America, the wage of a garbage collector is much higher than the university degree graduate and also has the right to retire on half pay after 25 years of service (Gyan-Budu, 2012). Contrary, the hospitality organisations in this country are mostly private and are controlled mainly by the owners; they decide the terms and conditions of service as well as anything they find as appropriate for the welfare of the workers. Even though there are policies governing the conditions of service of workers in this country, it does not seem to be operating as it should. Because the government lacks hospitality organisations, institutions and operations the majority in vocational employment especially in the hospitality industry are the private sector and so have little control over their operations because any attempt to enforce the law will cause the dismissal of the employee who is always at the disadvantage side. D. GOVERNMENT. From the data collected and the information gathered, four stakeholders were identified as the main contributors of TVET development and the government had the highest ranking as the main stakeholder in TVET development. However, figure 4.3 shows that over 80% respondents of this study agreed that government is the main stakeholder but has not done much that can bring vocational education to its right status, because the government is responsible for the formulation of policies, implementation and it enforcement as well as the provisions of logistics and human capital. Base on this fact and many others as revealed during the data collection the researcher wanted to find out further the role government has played and what has been done so far to develop TVET education and this has been analysed in three elements under the main objectives of this study:

Government role in the development of TVET education
The educational system in Ghana has gone through many reforms and at any meeting a holistic approach is given to the entire education streams. An example is the 1998 evaluation of the policy objectives of the reforms to the tertiary education system. Although some aspects cover vocational education, it is unfortunate that vocational institutions are mostly private and do not enjoy government support. Even though a policy mandates the Ministry of Education to be in charge of tertiary education to control, direct and supervise all activities therein it does not have an absolute control over the private sector. Again, the tertiary institutions are to harmonize with other subsectors of the education to give priorities to the overall policies of national development but it has been very hard to confirm the success of this policy because the educational structures are still the same and nothing has been done to raise the vocational education to the tertiary level. Also, the policy that addresses affordable tertiary education for increasing numbers of students and the content relevant to train people to answer the questions of the society through effective use of space, resources and personnel have not been fully achieved. However,  30 4.3 indicates that over 80% of the respondents of this study said the way to the tertiary institutions are not favourable for vocational students and more so vocational institutions end at a level that do not allow them to seek for further education unless they start it all over from the academic stream.

Government policy on technical vocational education training and major implementation barriers
Government effort in TVET development remains a pertinent phenomenon because despite the fact that clear policies are outlined on how enthusiastic government wish, for example to increase women in schools with a significant balance between higher level and technician level personnel in industry as well as the restructuring of tertiary institutions' enrolment to absorb appropriate skills in relation to national needs but could not achieve these objectives. Because the policy that sees to the allocation of funds for tertiary institutions are not enough to cover expenses rather there is much pressure on the private-sector to generate more income. Again, the majority of women are into vocational education but the systems do not allow them to be at par with their male counterparts in the academic schools. Over 70% of women population as against about 20% of men was identified in this study as shown in table 4.1. More also, figure 4.8 testifies that over 80% of vocational students and workers stated that government lacks institutions that would actually give complete training for vocational positions nationwide. However, the highest these people could reach in academia is grade I. their future seems to be dependent on a fortune as there are no well-paid industries for such people to work in there. Even though policies are set, they fail due to poor implementation and weak enforcement processes by government officials and the policy makers.

Identify academic progression barriers to catering students and workers in search of higher education
The government has been identified as the main stakeholder in TVET education with 82% rating as shown in figure 4.3 and much blame has been directed to the unfavourable policies set for vocational education and its progress as well as the unfulfilled policies by government, because there are polices like the introduction of programmes and courses in the tertiary institutions to train advanced technicians to fill the labour market demand as well as provide top-up sessions for working people to improve their skills for efficient performance. But then, from the series of questionnaires sent out much consent were raised by the respondents that, though there are some few institutions they could attend but the working hours are not favourable and also their salary is inadequate to survive them finance all the bills.
About 80% confirmed that equal opportunities into tertiary institutions do not exist for vocational students as it is with academic students as shown in figure 4.8. Furthermore, figure 4.10 shows that more than 70% respondents accused the government whilst responding to the poor and the unclear progression patterns of vocational education caused by the neglect of vocational education by government. To these respondents, vocational students could do better if they are given the opportunity. Unfortunately, they are denied access into tertiary education, also the tertiary institutions are not well equipped to train such people for the industry, and the only way to reach the fullest of their skill and develop to serve the nation's needs as set out by the government is to strengthen the TVET sector by increasing the funds allocation from 1% to at least 70% of it expenditure. However, the information gathered in this study on the demographics of the respondents clearly shows that there are many women than men in the catering and hospitality industry, over 70% are women as against 26% men and majority are very young in the industry with over 50% aging between 15 and 25 years as illustrated in table 4.1.
A section of table 4.1 shows that over 65% of the industry workers are basic certificate holders and they form the majority at the cooks' position with over 68% in the industry. Again, from table 4.1 over 70% of the workers are single indicating that the people in this industry can go very far in academia because majority are very young and single and will be able to further their education at length. This is the most reason why clear progression patterns are required for this people to have access into further studies. As a matter of facts, the structure of educational systems in Ghana has no provisions for the vocational student, figure 4.11 on structures of educational systems show that the highest the vocational student can attain in education is National Craftsman Certificate (NCC). This makes it very unhealthy for the development of this country, because a vocational person is the technician on the grounds and is in direct contact with production at the very onset of the manipulation of the raw material to produce a product. And it will be interesting to know that, the quality and safety of any good product depends on basic composition. What does this imply? Catering and hospitality as a vocation is keenly concerned with the provision of food, drinks and comfortable accommodation to the general public. Yet the highest this group can be educated is up to the grade I as shown in figure 4.11 which is very narrow and short for that group of people to gain much knowledge to the fullest. Meaning, they will depend much on what is being taught but will have difficulties with innovation. They will even have problems of selfconfidence in starting a business on their own, because they are likely to lack managerial skills and customer care which has been the main issue of the catering and hospitality industry for years now.
The study has raised many concerns about those who sponsor people to pursue vocational education. An answer from respondents of this study has shown in figure 4.1 that majority (54%) of sponsors of vocational education are single parents. And the question is why single parents? In the researcher's view it is so because that is the shortest avenue to the world of work. Because where there is separation and the load is drawn on one side of the family, the only alternative is to push the child or children into the world of work as soon as possible to be freed of any financial crisis, hence the majority (68.4%) of industry workers with the basic cookery certificate as shown in table 4.1. Once more, the progression path illustrated in this study will serve as a guide for both staff and students of vocational career seekers to further their education to the highest level, as shown in figure 4.8 over 70% respondents said they tried reaching higher but could not get access and also, about 20% respondents did not even know they could obtain a higher certificate with vocational background.

SUMMARY, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION 5.1 Summary of Findings
The study indicated that in the catering and hospitality industry, stakeholders play an essential role in its development and the government was identified as the major stakeholder in this industry. However, the catering and hospitality industry depends largely on its stakeholders' support and encouragement for sustainability. In the study, it was found that 26% of respondents were males and 74% were females giving the impression that more women are into the vocational work than the academic work. Again, this confirms that the catering and hospitality industry employs more females than males; however equal gender balance in this sector would make it perfect.
Out of the fifty (77) respondents, some respondents of about twenty percent (20%) were of the view that TVET education can only be considered where all hopes for financial support are lost and there is no means to support the child to the tertiary level; because that is the only way that the child can finish learning and go into the world of work to be established.
It was again noted that there were some challenges confronting vocational students and staff which hinders their academic progression and it was attributed to government policies on TVET education. In addition, the lack of respect for the vocational profession by the society was seen as a result of its lower chances of progressing through the educational ladder as well as the unattractive salary and wages for staff by their employers, poor working conditions, etc.
Majority of the respondents, corresponding to about eighty percent (80%) said that the main problems associated with the development of TVET education is the lack of the society's endorsement to its importance which has caused its relegation among the other educational sub-sectors.
The issue of improving the TVET education also raised many suggestions that TVET education should be seen as a key to national development as it relates more to domestication than any of the academic courses. Also more education should be conducted to create awareness about the compensation and benefits associated with TVET education.
Again, the government and policy makers should plan and make available the necessary needs of TVET education accessible that will be a priority to solve domestic problems.
From the study it was realized that nearly 68.4 % of the respondents were holding the basic NVTI grade II & I certificate and have worked for over ten years after their last education and hope to up-grade themselves whenever there is an opportunity.

Recommendations
From the findings obtained in this study, the researcher wishes to make the following recommendations:  The educational structure for vocational institutions should be modified by the government to include subjects that will prepare them for further studies.  The job market for TVET graduates should be made attractive by the stakeholders, whereby the policies on conditions of service being enforced by government to commit all employers including the private sector, encouraging them to abide by the rules that would bring some relief and motivation to the vocational worker.  The youth should be given some career counseling by both parents and the State Agencies to inform them about the prospects in pursuing TVET education.  The government should allocate enough funds and logistics to the TVET education sector to be used for the running and up keep of the sector that would enable the trainers to give quality and valuable education to vocational professionals that would prepare them for both the job market and self-employment in order to attract societies' interest.  Institutions (the private sector) training vocational professionals should be abreast with modern trends and seek for professional advice and also stick to recruiting quality staff to meet international standard's out-put.  Vocational tertiary institutions should be set up by government and the educational structure for vocational schools should be validated to provide a path for straight entry into the tertiary institutions.

Development of a progression path for vocational students
The researcher examined the possibilities in the academic progressions of vocational education after the basic level through to the second cycle and to the tertiary level and has ascertain clear-cut paths of vocational education as required for individual development and has come out with some patterns for progression. Fig 5.1 suggests patterns for progression in the vocational endeavour. According to the survey, over 80% of the workers in the catering and hospitality industry at the operational level hold JHS and NVTI certificates. This has brought some deficiencies into the industry, due to the narrow level of knowledge on the part of workers to perform certain functions, hence the numerous complains about poor service delivery in the catering and hospitality industry. However, the researcher recommends that, people in the catering and hospitality industry as well as potential individuals can close this gap by following the illustrations on figure 5.1 that will actually lead them to acquire higher knowledge for operations and managing any category of the catering and hospitality set-up.
With reference to figure 5.1, a person after completing JHS has three options to choose from in order to advance in the vocation academically and pragmatically. The first and simplest option is the apprenticeship training system where people enroll into proficiency training establishments to learn the handy aspects of the chosen profession to gain basic practical skills within a specified period of time which may be between three and five years and start working immediately after completion. Or, after obtaining the practical training, the person can again attend a vocational school where both practical and theory are taught to gain some academic knowledge in the chosen field to be awarded the basic certificates that include NVTI and certificate II.
However, through hard work in learning to be awarded a National Vocational Training Institute certificate, that person can aspire to write a variety of examinations to obtain various certificates that will qualify him or her to move from one level to the other in search of higher skills and knowledge as shown in figure 5.1.
The second option is to get enroll into a vocational school after the JHS education to learn both the practical and the theory of the chosen profession. After two or three years of learning to obtain NVTI and/or certificate II, that person can use the skills and knowledge acquired to start a self-employed business on a small scale which can grow to become a big firm through good managerial practices or may decide to be employed by an organization for monthly wage and salary. In addition, that person can seek for higher skills and knowledge by going through the SHS stream through to the polytechnic to pursue HND in the chosen field, or the person can decide to go through a vocational school that offers Intermediate and Advanced level certificates controlled by Technical Examination Unit in Ghana or City & Guilds of London Institute. That person can use the certificates obtained to enroll into University of Education to pursue a Diploma in education and continue in that manner as shown in figure 5.1.
Again, a person with an advanced certificate can apply for a Pre-HND in the Polytechnic to prepare him or her for an HND programme in that same Polytechnic after which that person can aspire to pursue a degree programme in an appropriate University.
The third option as illustrated in figure 5.1 shows that, people from the JHS can enroll into the SHS and progress to the Polytechnic to learn a particular vocation of choice or the SHS graduate can also go through the vocational school and progress to the polytechnic and beyond to obtain higher skills and knowledge for the appropriate functions in the industries.

Conclusion
From the survey conducted, it is evident that TVET education is very important for national development but at the same time it is very expensive to equip a complete sep-up, all the same the society should take a keen interest in TVET education for a positive domestication.
Most respondents were certain and confident that, the only way for Ghanaians to develop is to provide an enabling environment that will be beneficial to the locals through the exploitation of the natural resources provided by nature.
It is therefore important to note that notwithstanding the challenges in the hospitality industry, it is still one of the sectors in the Ghanaian economy which has contributed to high rate of employment. Its numerous benefits to the Ghanaian economy as well as its impact on the Ghanaian market are perhaps some of the reasons for its survival.