The Neglect of Polytechnic Education in Nigeria

University education, according to educationists,
is a process of learning designed to produce
graduates with theoretical understanding and
competence in various disciplines, while
polytechnic education places considerable
emphasis on practical training and technological
know-how.

In the light of this, polytechnic education was, in
the main, geared towards delivering sound
technical education, and its courses designed to
be more practical than the theory-oriented
courses offered in universities.


From the brief scenario above, these two
categories of education, were meant to cater for
the broad educational needs of the citizens,
which would, in the long run, foster national
growth and advancement.

But unfolding events, which The Guardian also
confirmed, indicate that polytechnic education
has not only been emasculated and starved of
requisite funding by past governments, it is also
receiving little or no interest from the country’s
youthful population, who shockingly still view it
as inferior to university education. Figures of
candidates seeking admission into polytechnics/
monotechnics in the country bear elaborate
testimony to the waning interest in polytechnic
education.

Part of the direct consequences of this
development remains the rising army of
unemployed youths crisscrossing the country for
the largely unavailable white-collar jobs. By its
very nature, polytechnic education equips
students with life skills needed to be independent
as well as guarantee self-employment and job
creation.

This much was attested to by the immediate past
rector of Federal Polytechnic, Auchi, Edo State,
Dr. Philipa Idogho, who recently stated that
polytechnic education was critical to the
development of the manpower needs of a
particular country.

“In Nigeria, polytechnic education ensures
training of skilled manpower needed to drive the
economy. Nigeria needs more of polytechnic
graduates. Today the entire world is moving
towards technical and vocational education
because it is the in thing now. We need people
that are skilled in moving the nation forward
technically,” she said.

However, one of the major reasons why students
prefer university education to that offered in
polytechnics remains the discriminatory practices
perpetrated by employers of labour, between
holders of the Higher National Diploma (HND)
and university degree holders during job
placements and in career progression.

Though former president, Olusegun Obasanjo,
had on January 5, 2006, during a meeting with
members of the House of Representative
Committee on Education and the then Minister of
Education, Mrs. Chinwe Obaji, approved a policy,
which reversed the discriminatory policy,
restricting HND holders from rising above level
14 in the civil service, not much has changed
along this line.

Professor of African Visual Culture, and Head of
Department Visual Arts, Cross River University of
Technology, (CRUTECH), Cross River State,

Ajibade Babson, argues that this policy is laden

with some technical hitches, hence its inability to
influence candidate’s preference for university
education.

According to him, “The president then reversed
the discriminatory policy restricting holders of
HND from rising to Grade Level 14 in the civil
service without making it democratic, that is by
allowing the National University Commission
(NUC), the National Board for Technical
Education (NBTE) and other relevant stakeholders
to determine what should be applicable.
“Also, the O-Level entry requirements and UTME
scores for university education are higher. If
parity is to be enforced, it needs be done
equitably, starting from entry requirements,
curriculum among others. We can’t have
disparate entry requirements and lower
academic rigour and at the same time, want both
degrees to be at par. That cannot work. To
eliminate employment and progression
discrimination, we must first remove entry level
and curricula disparities.”

He also cautioned that the preference for
university degrees by employers of labour will
affect the country’s socio-economic and
educational development as the two systems
remain different and the purpose of their
training equally different.

“One trains for technology while the other trains
different courses aimed at boosting the country’s
manpower. So what is happening now is
everybody is rushing to get a degree nobody is
going to the polytechnics. At the end of the day,
we are losing out on a lot of critical technological
manpower in a lot of sectors,” he said.
Babson, a graduate of University of Basel,
Switzerland, further stated, “Many youths who
are rushing to get university degrees don’t really
belong there. They are forcing themselves to get
degrees just to satisfy employers of labour. In the
end, they come out as half-baked graduates.
Eventually, the society would be filled with half-
baked graduates on the one hand, and not enough
technologists to man critical sectors of the
economy.

“In actual fact, there is no competition between a
university degree and a HND obtained from a
polytechnic because they both occupy different,
but equally important sectors of the economic
workforce. The person trained in a polytechnic is
trained to have more technological capacity to
work in the industry, and to operate at that level
while someone trained in a university operates
differently. They both complement each other. In
the developed world, it’s a complementary
relationship and there is no competition… Both
are adequate and satisfy different needs in the
society,” he stated.

He urged the Federal Government to put
machinery in place to help people with ideas
secure small loans to set up small and medium
enterprise (SMES), adding that it would reduce
the competition that brings HND in confrontation
with degree programmes.

Vice Chancellor, Ladoke Akintola University of
Technology (LAUTECH), Ogbomoso, Prof. Adeniyi
Gbadegesin, is aware of this needless lacuna and
the impact on the society.

In stating efforts made by the school to remedy
the situation, he said, “In LAUTECH, what we are
trying to do now is to shorten the period it takes
to acquire a degree. That is, for holders of HND in
Urban and Regional Planning, for instance, we
encourage them to come and within two years
they get their degrees.

“So, what used to take them five years, we have
shortened it to two years. We believe that this will
serve as a source of encouragement to them so
that they can still use the skills they acquired in
the polytechnics. Once they are done, we award
B.Tech to them. We need a lot of attitudinal
change in our educational policy before we can
eradicate the discrimination against non-degree
holders…”

He also informed that the preference for
university education by youths would ultimately
affect Nigeria’s socio-economic and educational
development as polytechnic education fills
certain gaps in the development of the country.
For a senior lecturer in the Department of
Statistics, Yaba College of Technology
(YABATECH), Mr. Aromolaran Davidson, the
preference for university education to
polytechnic education is due to the ill treatment
given to polytechnic graduates by the
government, employers of labour and the general
public.

He said, “Nigeria today is a country that pays
more attention to certificates. Polytechnics are
perceived, and are positioned to be sub or
inferior to the universities by the recognition
given to them, and Nigerian youths prefer
university education to earn better recognition as
positioned by the national laws.
“The main objective of polytechnic education was
to enhance our technological development and
the moment products of polytechnics are being
discriminated against, then the mandate will not
be fulfilled. The objectives will fail automatically
and this will affect the educational sector in
Nigeria.”

He advised governments at all levels to convert
the polytechnics to degree-awarding institutions
by making them universities of technology, while
colleges of education should be converted to
universities of education, so that there will not be
discrimination.

From the prism of a university graduate, Mr.
Oluwadurotimi Akinduro, polytechnics were
established to raise graduates with required skills
especially in the engineering/technical industry.
“But government over the years could not
properly fund and ensure that Polytechnics met
the expectation of the job market.”
The University of Benin (UNIBEN), graduate
urged employers of labour to give all applicants a
level playing ground to compete for vacant spaces
in the labour market, adding, “The government
should do more to fund and ensure polytechnics
are properly run to meet the demands of the job
market.

Professor of Comparative Drama and Media,
University of Calabar, Ede Iji, insists that
governments should put a stop to the ill treatment
given to polytechnic graduates by employers of
labour, government officials and the general
public in view of what the country stands to loose
from such archaic practice.

The former Commissioner for Information and
Culture in Cross River State said, “An end to the
disparity will bring about balancing of students’
enrolment among all tiers of the tertiary
education in the country, particularly in
universities and polytechnics, and will help in
reducing the unnecessary pressure this influx of
students to the universities put on the limited
infrastructure in the university system. Since
education is vital to national growth and
development, it is important for all levels of it to
be encouraged and taken seriously. There
shouldn’t be any form of dichotomy or
discrimination against polytechnic education or
university education since they all have their
roles and places in nation building.
Giving his views on why young Nigerians prefer
university education to that offered by
polytechnics, a graduate of YABATECH, Mr. Abotu
Philips Emuobome, said students prefer
university education because HND is no longer
marketable in Nigeria.

“While in school, my lecturer used to say that if
in the next 10 years the discrimination against
non-university degree holders by employers of
labour is not resolved, polytechnic education may
be forced into extinction as a result of lack of
patronage by youths or prospective students. And
that is what we are witnessing now.”

Source: The Guardian