One of the embarrassing attitudes of the Federal and state governments in Nigeria is the lack of adequate recognition to polytechnic education. Probably, this lack of recognition is borne out of ignorance regarding the place of polytechnic education to the overall technological development of the country. Definitely, no one is better positioned to point out this discrepancy than the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde who recently lamented such short-sightedness.
Speaking recently at the 2nd Education Summit of Igbajo Polytechnic, Igbajo, Osun State, Ojerinde called for the repackaging of polytechnic education to ensure the advancement of the country.
We are totally in support of this submission, especially in the realisation that no country that is in need of technological advancement can ignore the role of polytechnics in achieving that goal. It is a fact that polytechnic education places emphasis on practice-based learning and skills acquisition. Sadly, the state of infrastructure in many of the country’s polytechnics is very depressing. Such a crisis is making learning difficult, as the students find it increasingly difficult to access good library facilities, decent research laboratories and modern technological gadgets.
The increase in the number of polytechnics, as well as the drop in funding, have also adversely affected the quality of academic staff.
That explains why today, no polytechnic in this country is among those ranked in Africa. The sorry state of these institutions is responsible for the lack of technological progress in the country. It is therefore no wonder that even when Nigeria has many polytechnics that produce this middle level manpower, its economy has refused to grow. The reason is that the polytechnics are no longer attracting the best and brightest students who now shun them for the universities, which is purely academic and theoretical. Moreover, the lingering disparity over qualifications between university degrees and polytechnic certificates is not helping matters, as this has done more harm than good to the economic development and educational advancement of the country.
There is no gainsaying the fact that polytechnic graduates have continued to suffer from the dichotomy as is reflected in disparity in salary Grade Level, especially in the civil service where Higher National Diploma, HND, holders are employed on Grade Level 07 while degree holders’ entry point is GL 08. Similarly, the HND holder cannot progress further than GL 14 in his/her civil service career. This state of affairs is responsible for the lack of enthusiasm among prospective students to seek admission into polytechnics; thereby making these institutions lose their allure.
With such unsavoury development, it is difficult to see how polytechnic education can really fulfill its goal of turning out competent and resourceful technical personnel that would aid the country’s technological and industrial development. It is interesting to note that the developed countries of Europe and America, including developing ones such as China and India owe their technological prowess to products of their technical institutions. The Federal and state governments should therefore implement policies that would give the polytechnics their pride of place.
source-->Dailytimes.com.ng