Cosmetologists Appeal for Degrees

Members of the Professional Cosmetologists and Beauty Therapists Association of Ghana have called on government to grant them vocational education degree status to enable them upgrade their academic qualifications.

They argue that degrees from the Council for Technical Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) will enable them to meet international standards and contribute to the socio-economic development of the country.

Speaking to Class News on the sidelines of their National Conference in Accra, National President of Professional Cosmetologists and Beauty Therapists Association of Ghana, King David Thompson, said there is urgent need for beauty therapists to upgrade their professional competence.

He said: “Professional Cosmetologist Association, we have professionals from different or diverse areas, that is skin, hair and nails and we have come together as a group to see how best we can gain international standard, and with this, we know COTVET has done the ladder whereby one can go up to the level of a degree but up till now, nothing of that sort has happened.

“So, we’re urging and pleading with government to ensure that COTVET can facilitate this process very fast so that most of us can attain the necessary degree that we need in order to meet international standards.

“We are part of the skilled labour and you can tell that entrepreneurship is what is leading every developed country, so, if government is able to support us to move up, we’ll be able to ease unemployment rate and it will go a long away to benefit the country as a whole.

“Gone are those days when we were seen as drop-outs who are meant to study this ‘beauty and hair’ thing, but now things are changing, we are upgrading ourselves, so, the perception that cosmetologists are semi-literates or illiterates is no more.”

In a response, Chairman of the Ghana Education Service Council, Michael Nsowah, said private institutions running cosmetology programmes must strive to acquire accreditation before demanding degrees.

He said: “It’s not just a matter of saying we want a degree, you’ll need curriculum that will be accepted, therefore, all the institutions will need programme accreditation, necessary infrastructure, experts will have to look at what is going to go into the programme that will merit a degree. If we are able to do that I’m not sure anybody will say they can’t be given degrees.

“Now we have private institutions running programmes and giving people diplomas. We need to ask: ‘What kind of diploma are they giving?’ Are they recognised as post-secondary or tertiary institutions? Do they have that level of accreditation because you don’t just run any course anywhere? Even though on the certificate it might be written diploma, it may not qualify on accreditation requirements.”