Lecturers want Nigeria lawmakers to fast track amendment of Polytechnic Act. The polytechnic lecturers want an end to discrimination against polytechnic graduates. The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) on Friday called on the National Assembly to fast track the amendment of the Polytechnic Act to meet modern reality. The ASUP National President, Chibuzor Asomugha, made the call at its 75th National Executive Council Meeting at the Federal Polytechnic, Bida, Niger. He said that the last amendment was done in 2004, adding that it had become obsolete and unusable to meet the challenges of the times. He said the House of Representative had conducted public hearing on the amendment, adding that it should be sent to the Senate. Mr. Asomugha said government had to face reality and understand that working under pressure would not help the tertiary sector. “Government had objective at the onset for polytechnic education but attention is not being paid to the objective set for the sector. It appears the government has lost sight of its responsibility to the sector. “We are prevailing on the government to develop a will power and return to the part of onset agreement of the polytechnic education,’’ he said. He decried the discrimination against HND graduates in the public service, adding that the demeaning of their career progression was a huge challenge to the sector. Mr. Asomugha said out of 15 issues they tabled before the Minister of Education in 2011, only two had been met partly. This, he said, include the migration of Consolidated Tertiary Institution Salary Structure (CONTISS) 15 which government refuse to release the circular for implementation. He stressed that polytechnics should not be short-change for universities, arguing that the cut of marks for polytechnics should be at par with universities. According to him, there is no different cut of mark in the school certificate for entrance into tertiary institution. “Government should give us a level playing ground to admit students the same time with the universities and the same cut off marks. “By so doing, people will know that technical education is not for people that are less endowed academically,’’ he said. The chairman said people could be brilliant and pursue technical education to have a place in the development of the nation. “The polytechnic and technical schools are fading away because students don’t want to go because government policies are saying that they should not go there.’’ The ASUP Chairman, Federal Polytechnic Bida chapter, who spoke earlier, tasked the union to ensuring that academic allowances was enshrined in the budget as agreed with the government. -PREMIUM TIMES
Posted on: Sat, 28 Sep 2013 06:02:55 +0000