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The RPL is a process for assessing and formally recognising people's existing skills and knowledge which may have been obtained through formal or informal training, work experience, voluntary work or life experiences.
The RPL could be implemented in sectors such as construction, printing, plumbing, fitting and welding, dressmaking, hairdressing, beautician and cosmetics, electrical works installation, panel beating, spray painting, agriculture, carpentry, masonry, roofing and tiling and adult literacy.
The experts made the appeal in Accra during a validation workshop for stakeholders on a Draft Manual for the implementation RPL.
The workshop, which was organised by the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET), provided the platform for stakeholders to deliberate on how to facilitate the implementation of RPL Policy Draft Manual.
Dr Ebenezer Adaku, a Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, in his presentation said, the RPL aimed to promote lifelong learning and would serve diverse purposes.
He said learners may use the RPL formal recognition or validation for entry into a programme of study in place of the usual entry qualifications or for part of a qualification so that they avoid repeating learning that they already had.
A report of the Technical Committee on the Harmonisation of Competency-Based Training (CBT) in Ghana, had recommended the adoption of the RPL Policy within the context of the Technical Vocational Education and Training qualifications framework.
The Committee believes that the guidelines and policy would help solve the problem of all prior learning, which had not been previously assessed or credit-rated.
Dr Adaku said the main responsibility of COTVET regarding the provision of the RPL was to create the regulatory framework and the conducive environment within which the RPL could be conducted.
He noted that the goal of the RPL Policy in Ghana was to recognise and support the legitimate interests of Ghanaians in obtaining credit for prior learning and to ensure a consistent and equitable approach to the granting of credit for prior learning.
He recounted that the Anamuah-Mensah Committee Report on Educational Reforms in Ghana, in 2003, suggested the creation of Open College and University Systems to cater for life-long learning and to satisfy the multiplicity of learning requirements not addressed by the conventional institutions.
Dr Adaku said the Open Community College were intended to provide avenues for graduates of junior high school and senior high school, technical and vocational institutions as well as providing opportunities for lifelong learning.
Reverend Dr Eric Ankrah, the immediate past President of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, Ghana, in his contribution, underscored the importance of the Open Community College.
He said the system would provide graduates of tertiary institutions the opportunities to acquire skills to enhance their capacity for the job market.
Mr Samuel Thompson, the Coordinator of Policy Planning, Research, Monitoring and Evaluation of COTVET, said the focus of the RPL was the learning outcomes, in the form of skills and knowledge of experiences, and not how, when or where the learning occurred, provided the learning was relevant to the criteria of the relevant national standard.
He said RPL placed emphasis on recognising the quality of learning that had taken place instead of looking for specific experience or formal credentials from educational institutions.
GNA
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