Tag: TVET

From the inception of formal technical and vocational training in colonial times to the adoption of the modern phase of TVET in the country, the goals of such training have been the same: (1) to employ practical, hands-on approaches in training learners toward various career paths so they could help in filling the skills gaps in the job market and (2) to impart such necessary competencies and entrepreneurial skills in the learners that would aid in their career preparation and employability. The ultimate goal is to train those would contribute to economic growth by ensuring that they acquired practical skills, knowledge, and attitudes relating to occupations and careers in various sectors of the economy.

The history of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) in Nigeria is as enduring as its projected benefits. Vocational training could be said to be rooted in traditional apprenticeship training in precolonial times. However, it has been integral to the Nigerian school system ever since its incorporation into the school curriculum in forms such as farming, crafts, carpentry, and so on, leading to the establishment of technical institutes and trade centres. Eventually, by 1976, “science, technical and vocational education was incorporated into the National Policy on Education. This gave birth to the establishment of the National Board of Technical Education in 1977 to oversee technical and vocational education. Six years later, when the 6-3-3-4 system of education was introduced in 1982, it was envisaged that 30% of primacy school leavers would enroll in technical colleges; 10% in trade and apprenticeship programmes, and the remaining 60% would continue training in conventional secondary schools. Beyond secondary schools, the focus of TVET has centred on polytechnics, which federal, state, and private proprietors have been establishing here and there at a frenetic pace. Today, the NBTE lists 41 Federal polytechnics on its website, not to speak of countless state and private polytechnics.

The failure of the preceding systems to meet the country’s middle-level manpower needs was used as a ploy to introduce the 9-3-4 system in 1999. It was another case of substituting form for function, as if changing the structure of the education system would automatically produce desired results. Spurred on by the United Nation’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals, established in 2015, and UNESCO’s prompt, the Nigerian government has since been making moves to advance TVET education in the country. True, many polytechnics and vocational schools have since been established, but the noble goals of TVET have remained elusive. Rampant unemployment has pushed many a youth to violent and fraudulent activities. More and more citizens have become poor or poorer.

What went wrong?

In answering this question, I focus on the plight of Federal polytechnics. There are five major problems. One, there is a serious funding gap, deriving from the paltry budgetary allocation to education by the Federal Government over the years. Besides, only a fraction of the polytechnics’ approved budgets is released every year. There is also a high degree of unevenness in the release of funds: Some institutions get over 70 percent of their funds released, while others get a paltry 30 percent or less. It is suspected that this unevenness has to do with backroom dealings.

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The saving grace for most of the institutions today has been TETFund, which has been providing funds for capital projects, equipment, and training to the polytechnics. In order to bridge the funding gap, each polytechnic should establish an advancement office to raise funds beyond the tuition and fees collected from students. Each institution should also set up a venture to produce and sell products and services to the local communities. Moreover, the polytechnics should develop self-help projects, including small-scale building projects, landscaping, and fence construction. This could be done in collaboration with practicing artisans within the local communities.

Two, there is a dearth of necessary infrastructure and teaching facilities in the polytechnics. Older polytechnics are suffering from dilapidating structures and overstretched facilities, while some newly established polytechnics have had to run around to borrow equipment to satisfy accreditation requirements. At the end of the day, students are exposed to theory in the classroom but limited or no practical experience in the appropriate tools of their trade.

Three, the curriculum in the polytechnics and the focus of each polytechnic have to be revisited or established. No industrialised nation practices a one-size-fits-all curriculum for its educational institutions, although certain standards or expectations could be set. Given the variable locations and environments of the nation’s polytechnics, each one should decide on what its unique focus should be and what, at the end of the day, each polytechnic wants to be known for. Nevertheless, given the rural location of many of the polytechnics, agriculture and local commercial and artisanal  practices should feature prominently. Bricklaying, plumbing, carpentry, welding, electrical installation, tiling, automobile and generator repairs, and so on, should feature in both the curriculum and experiential learning. Accordingly, polytechnic managements should take a census of local enterprises for on-site experiential learning for their students. The focus on “industrial attachment” is futile where there are no industries and where the few that existed have folded up. Local banks, hotels, construction sites, and other local enterprises are good alternatives. There is an urgent need to domesticate so-called industrial attachments for experiential learning.

Four, there is a dearth of appropriately trained and skilled teachers across the polytechnics. It is one thing to have an excellent curriculum on paper; it is another to have an appropriate teacher to implement the curriculum. It is simple pedagogical truism that no curriculum is better than its teacher and that students hardly know  better than their teachers. There is an urgent need to inculcate the mission of polytechnics in the teachers and provide regular and adequate human capital development opportunities. As I indicated earlier, TETFund has been outstanding in funding such opportunities. However, such training should be retooled to suit local circumstances.

Fifth, there is an urgent need to streamline the supervision of polytechnics in the country. It is a chaotic system by which polytechnic managements are summoned to Abuja every now and then or have four or five different visitations from various arms of the Federal Government (Education, Budget Office, Accountant General’s office, the legislature, and others). There have been occasions when Rectors, who had just returned to base from Abuja, were summoned back by another arm of the Federal Government. Besides the time and energy expended on such trips, the resources wasted on road and air transport, hotels, and duty allowances could be put to better use. The NBTE should step in here to establish some order!

The newly appointed Minister of Education is determined to change the fortunes of federal polytechnics. He should realise, however, that TVET is an expensive educational venture as it needs constant adaptation of its facilities to changes in technology and technical equipment. It also requires that training be constantly adapted to the needs of the market in a changing world. That’s why it will be necessary for the Federal Government to pause the establishment of new polytechnics until the existing ones are well funded and retooled to make their graduates self-sufficient to create new jobs or are good enough to fill the job gaps in a changing market.