ASUP Strike: Removal Of HND/University Degree Dichotomy A Welcome Development To End Strike The news of the inauguration of a committee by the Federal Government (FG) to bridge the gap between Higher National Diploma (HND) and university degree is relatively a cheering one. At least, after ten months of academic shut down by polytechnic lecturers across the states of the federation, the FG is planning to put a ‘lasting solution’ to one of the major demands (removal of HND/university degree dichotomy) of the aggrieved lecturers. As much as I wouldn’t want to pre-empt the report of the committee, I wish to state that removing the disparity or bridging the gap between graduates of the two programmes would be more akin to the wisdom of a man that ignored leprosy only to dissipate his energy to treating ringworm. First, all stakeholders will agree that the Walter Elliot Commission of 1943, Eric Ashby Commission of 1959, Dr A. Skanska’s report of 1962 and other conferences sought to engender the development of technical manpower in Nigeria. Therefore, the polytechnic education was not ill- conceived, but misunderstood to date. The wrong perception of polytechnic education is evident from the way lecturers are recruited to the admission process of prospective applicants; from the curricula development to the relevance of the courses; from the government regulatory agencies to the ownership (state, federal & private); from the employers of labour to several policy somersaults. The list is endless. Hence, for the stakeholders, a rare cognitive restructuring or pragmatic approach towards tackling these problems is necessary before anything good can come out of the polytechnic education reforms. Second, if really the private sector is the major employers of labour in Nigeria, then the removal of the disparity would be a mere effort in futility. The government may decree that public and private sectors should give polytechnic graduates and their university counterpart equal opportunities to work with the same entry levels and promotional growths, however, can the government mandate. WHATS YOUR SAY ABOUT THIS?
Posted on: Tue, 08 Jul 2014 11:05:10 +0000
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