ABUJA - The Federal Government has been called upon to do all in its powers to reconsider its stance and save the polytechnic education. Some polytechnic students and parents made the call in seperate interviews with newsmen in Abuja. They said that the government had a responsibility to ensure the sustenance of the education system. “The Federal Government says it is making vocational and technical education a top priority. “It also says it plans to achieve technological advancement and economic growth through technical and vocational education. “I think it is important that government reconsiders its stance and take polytechnics serious if it truly plans to achieve this goal,’’ Miss Ruth Gabriel, a student of the Kaduna Polytechnic said. According to Gabriel, the strike by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) and the continued stay of students at home also signals danger for the country. She said that many students had taken to certain vices because of idleness. “As I am speaking to you now, two of my friends got pregnant and one has even given birth. “I cannot blame them because it is not everyone that has the strong will to fight off temptation,’’ she added. The year one Business Administration student, therefore, appealed to government to pay more attention to the plight of polytechnics in the country. Mr. Raphael Dangana, a non-academic staff of the Federal Polytechnic, Nasarawa, and a parent said government should listen to lecturers and save their children from destruction as a result of the prolonged strike. Dangana said that polytechnic education, as important as it was, was becoming unattractive to students because of the way it is being run in the country. “Every parent wants his or her children to go to the university instead of the polytechnic as it has continued to lose its glory because of the way government is treating the system. “Not everyone can attend the university and not every course can be studied in the university; so polytechnic education should be accorded the respect and place it deserves,’’ he advised. ASUP has been on strike for close to eight months over demands, including the non-release of the White Paper on the Visitation Panel to the polytechnics, lack of implementation of the CONTISS salary structure, and the constitution of a Needs Assessment Committee. Acting Minister of Education, Chief Nyesom Wike, said in a meeting with ASUP last week that the federal government had met three of the four demands by the union, and demanded that the strike be called off.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 15:23:52 +0000
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