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Mr Akwasi Oppong-Fosu, Minister of Local and Rural Development has said that, the government would provide financial and logistical support to graduates of vocational and technical schools in order to make them productive. The Minister gave the assurance during his familiarisation tour to some of the vocational and technical institutions under the department of Community Development on Wednesday. He said the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development would team up with the Microfinance and Small Loan Centre (MASLOC) and the Local Enterprises & Skills Development Program (LESDEP) to assist graduates of vocational and technical institutions to set up their own business. �The technical and vocational institutions enable students to acquire skills, knowledge and competence to work and the government will invest in such institutions to sustain them�, he said. At the Madina Community Development Vocational Institute, Mr Oppong-Fosu tasked the authorities of the school to come up with a business plan on how the school could be developed and make it a place of choice for many other students. He urged the school authority to adopt public/private partnership as a tool for confronting most of the challenges facing it including inadequate learning materials and classrooms. Mr Oppong-Fosu also visited the Community Development Vocational and Technical Institute at Kpong in the Eastern Region and promised to assist with the provision of classroom blocks and equipments to the school. During the tour, the Minister observed that the school which has a population of 320 had only one 3-unit classroom block with no dormitory or hostel for the students. It was also discovered that the headmistress of the school, Mrs Felicia Botchwey shares her room with six other students who could not afford to rent one. Mr Oppong Fosu said government has allocated GHc 400,000 for the construction of a two-storey building for the school and additional resources would be provided for the construction of dormitory and provision of equipments. He commended Mrs Felicia Botchwey for her extreme sacrifice by sharing her room with six other students, saying her passion for the work, sense of purpose and responsibility are worth emulating. Mr Theodore Tandoh, Director for the department of Community Development appealed to the Minister to provide logistical support to the members of staff at the department especially the regional directors to enable them to function effectively.