JAMB Boss Canvases For Polytechnic Education.

The Federal Government has been urged to develop polytechnic education to enable Nigeria compete with developed countries.

The plea was given by the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Dibu Ojerinde, at the 2nd Education Summit of Igbajo Polytechnic, Igbajo, Osun state.

Ojerinde, who presented a paper titled “Polytechnic Education in Nigeria: Prospects and Relevance, decried attitude of many admission seekers who would prefer to stay at home than going to polytechnic.

He insisted that polytechnic education needed to be repackaged to ensure technical advancement of the country.

He said: “For Nigeria to be advanced technologically and scientifically, the political will to implement national objectives and plans must be formulated and implemented. Nigeria must get serious with the issue of technological and science-based education, because this is where to begin.”

Prof. Ojerinde noted that polytechnic education because it emphasises on practice-based learning and the acquisition of certain life skills is important, adding that “cognizance should be taken of the policy of the Federal Government as it affects the encouragement given to technical education in Nigeria.”

In his paper titled “Polytechnic Education in Nigeria: What Future”?, the Rector, Osun State College of Technology, Esa-Oke, Engr. Oluyemi Oke, urged the federal government to replace Bachelor of Technology to replace the current Higher National Diploma, HND.

Oke said if the national aspiration and quest for technological development is to be realized, polytechnic education should be developed and all the polytechnics in Nigeria should be statutorily empowered to award Bachelor of Technology Degrees.

“There must be a change in the perception of the polytechnics, their lecturers, students and eventual products. Society should stop looking at students who opted for polytechnic education as those that cannot make it to the university or have failed academically.

“Government should stop treating Polytechnic lecturers as second-class citizens in terms of remuneration, recognition and national assignments.

“Lecturers in the polytechnics, with required academic qualifications should be allowed to pursue their career up to professorship level like their university counterparts,” he concluded.