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How, Why Universities Produce Half-Baked Graduates

By Peter Ugwu
23 October 2015   |   1:47 am
The current curriculum in Nigeria’s schools is mess because it lacks information and communications technology (ICT) ingredients leaving the system to churn out half-baked graduates, according to some experts who should know.

Ict2The current curriculum in Nigeria’s schools is mess because it lacks information and communications technology (ICT) ingredients leaving the system to churn out half-baked graduates, according to some experts who should know.

According to them, the he system as it is today cannot create a knowledge driven economy or so called new economy in which the generation and the exploitation of knowledge play the major part in the creation of wealth.

Dr. Bukola Onashoga, the chairperson, Nigeria Computer Society (NCS), Ogun State Chapter blamed the widening gap between the academia and information technology industry in the country.

She said, “There are various ways to look at it. When an institution fails to align the undergraduates with the practical know-how, or shield them from tapping the technical competencies of the practitioners in the field, such blames cannot be ruled out, because the students will be missing a lot.

Mr. Dare Ogunlade, general manager, Cisco Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia and Sierra Leone, said to solve the problem, “One thing we can do in this era is to integrate some professionals into the academic world, instead of allowing the students to base their orientation or knowledge on the theoretical aspects of computing.

It is good to involve them. The way we are going, it is good to involve the practitioners. The practical should not be limited to during project-writing or thesis, rather from the first day a student enrolls in school, he ought to start learning ‘hands-on’ computer.

For instance, in FUNAAB, the students’ industrial (training) attachment has been extended from three months to six months, to avail them the opportunity to get more knowledge of the industry”.

She added that NCS Ogun State Chapter have even launched “Computer Brains Club”, as part of measures to take IT advocacy to primary and secondary schools, while convincing the pupils of taking up careers in IT.

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