On January 5, 2006, while in office as President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo approved a policy which reversed the discriminatory restriction of the Higher National Diploma (HND) holders from rising above Level 14 in the civil service. Instructively, it would appear that eight years after, things still remain the way they were in 2014.
The former Minister of Education, Mrs Chinwe Obaji, and members of the House of Representatives’Committee on Education were present at the meeting where the decision was reached.
Prior to the policy, there has been this long-drawn battle about which is superior: university degrees or polytechnic diplomas. In the public and private sectors, both are put to the test as employers – wittingly or unwittingly – discriminate against polytechnic graduates. This was what informed the decision – a couple of years ago – of turning some prominent polytechnics in the country into universities.
In essence, if given the choice, more than 90 per cent of polytechnic students would prefer to be in a university; they only choose polytechnics as an after-thought to escape being home doing nothing.
This dichotomy is also played on the national scene, and even in the media. The better part of last year was dedicated to the trench warfare between the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) and the Federal Government (FG). Interestingly, too, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) was on strike before ASUU, but theirs was not given the requisite attention. ASUP had gone on strike on April 17, 2013, more than two months before the ASUU began its own strike on July 1, last year.
At a point, ASUP suspended its strike – on July 17, 2013 – to prepare grounds for negotiation with the government, only for it to be resumed again. The action entered its seventh month this month.
And what were the reasons for the strike? It was undertaken to drive home a 12-point demand; this was, however, scaled down to four critical demands after negotiations with the government. The four major demands include: constituting a needs assessment committee for polytechnic education, just like was done for the varsities; the government should inject N20.8billion – as an initial stop gap – into polytechnic education; the government should make concerted efforts at bridging the gap between university graduates and those from the polytechnics; and to address the poor state of state-owned polytechnics.
While we were all shouting ourselves hoarse over the ASUU strike, we totally “forgot” about the polytechnics, even when ASUP suspended their action to give room for negotiation, the government barely acknowledged the olive branch extended with its nonchalant attitude reflected in its graveyard silence.
ASUP National President, Chibuzo Asomuhga, in an interview with Vanguard said: “Their (government) thinking that it is only the children of the poor that attend the polytechnics is wrong.” He also pointed out during a press conference that “while the government intervened in other sectors that went on strike or threatened to go on strike, it had ignored the nation’s call for an end to the ongoing strike.” This is the dilemma that polytechnics face in the country.
Beyond this however, it is quite clear that our polytechnics, just like the universities as well as other levels of education are in crisis. ASUU, which ended a six-month-old strike last December, fought the government on all fronts to meet its demands. It took a lot of pressuring from the public also to get the government to agree to give the universities some money. It is for this reason that calls from certain quarters have hammered on the need to bring the action forcefully to the public domain again.
After the suspension of its first strike last year, the government agreed to inject N20.8billion to improve the state of polytechnics only to renege, months after the agreement. Yet, we are striving to be counted among developed economies by 2020.
To put a finger in the dilemma polytechnics and colleges of education face is to understand the psyche of those in government, and Nigerians generally. For instance, in a 2012 interview with Vanguard, Prof Onu Godwin, the Rector, Federal Polytechnic, Oko in Anambra State, said experience in the sector had taught him that more youths prefer gaining admission into universities than polytechnics or colleges of education.
“Only very few choose polytechnics as their first choice because of some particular courses and this can be attributed to societal values on varsity/polytechnic education. I’m not saying that the university is better than polytechnics or colleges of education, but I think if polytechnics are converted to polytechnic universities, it would solve most of these problems,” he said.
Provost, Michael Otedola College of Primary Education (MOCPED), Epe, Lagos State, Prof. Olu Akeusola, also echoed this line recently when he said, “Nigerians will put education institutes in crisis if the discrimination against polytechnics and colleges of education continues.
“We know how to copy curriculum without implementing same. The theory and concept of the 6-3-3-4 system of education is that after a child has gone through compulsory six years of primary education and three years of junior secondary school, those who are educationally inclined would proceed to senior secondary while those who are not would opt for technical schools. From there, the technical students would proceed to polytechnics while those that went to senior secondary schools would go to universities to further their education.”
According to Akeusola, the “Post-Unified Matriculation Examination (Post-UME) into institutions of higher learning has compounded the problems because very few candidates would want to put a polytechnic or college of education as their first choice, and the universities don’t have the capacity to admit them all.”
So, how do we begin to resolve these anomalies? I agree with The Nation editorial of July 16 that we need to revisit “why lecturers in polytechnics and colleges of education cannot go beyond senior lecturers while only in the universities can senior lecturers move to Readers/Associate Professors and finally to Professors. On this important issue, some questions need to be raised and answered. Do the differences in qualities and standards, the mode of appointments and promotion suggest the difference in the qualities of academic staff in the universities and polytechnics and the award of university degrees and polytechnic diplomas?”
We also need to erase the stereotype and assumption that polytechnics only cater for mechanics and the hospitality industry. In reality, media, arts, design, business, fine arts, film, engineering, and journalism are all available at polytechnics.
Many parents, teachers, career advisors, and even students do not really understand what polytechnics and independent training do and what they offer. It is almost considered general knowledge that the university is on “a higher level” than polytechnics. But universities are not as “appropriate” for creative fields as society has led everyone to believe. Universities focus primarily upon research; but creative subjects are fundamentally practical. For instance, if you want to learn how to watch a movie go to university, but if you want to make a movie, polytechnics are better suited to your needs.
To help bridge this stereotype, the government should not be seen to be partial in the drafting and implementation of educational policies. The way things stand, it appears most polytechnics would prefer the transformation of all polytechnics in Nigeria into universities and university campuses. This development, according to this line of reasoning, is considered necessary to correct many of the anomalies that have been bedeviling the successful implementation of Technical Education.
The reasoning also is that by the time we cease to have polytechnics in Nigeria, most of the problems of non-parity between polytechnic and university lecturers and that between polytechnic students and their university counterparts in terms of difference in rank, certification, status, designation and recognition would be over. Would it really?
