Polytechnic graduates agitated over compliance with extant IT policy

The failure of some Higher National Diploma (HND)-awarding institutions to ensure that would-be students present evidence or confirm their participation in the mandatory one-year Internship Training (IT) programme, has now led to thousands of fresh graduates from polytechnics and mono-technic being shut out of participation in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme. IYABO LAWAL writes that this failure to comply with an extant policy by institutions, which has drawn the ire of polytechnic students/graduates, their parents, and guardians, has been hailed by some stakeholders in the sector.

“To keep Nigeria one is a task that must be done,” said Gen. Yakubu Gowon during the 1967 – 1970 Nigerian Civil War that claimed over a million lives.
Having accomplished the task of keeping Nigeria intact, one of the biggest moves made by the Gowon-led administration to re-engineer a sense of bonding in a diverse people, was the establishment of the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC), whose virtues are still being extolled to date.

Not a few Nigerian graduates have looked forward to undergoing the mandatory one-year national service upon the completion of their undergraduate studies/first degrees. There are, however, several requirements for being called up for the all-important national assignment, and failure to present them at the orientation camp is tantamount to being summarily demobilised, or denied entry into the camp.

Recently, a requirement (which is not to the delight of some polytechnic graduates across the country) was “added” to the already long list, as the NYSC insisted that every potential corps member from polytechnics and mono-technics must present evidence of observance of the mandatory one-year industrial training before being admitted into the scheme.

The NYSC Coordinator in Lagos State, Yetunde Baderinwa, in a circular that she issued ahead of the last mobilisation exercise, said: “It has been noticed in recent times that some polytechnic and mono-technic graduates do not observe the mandatory one-year industrial training (IT) requirement before being admitted for the HND programme. The one-year IT is a prerequisite for HND. They must undergo it with evidence of completion before going for HND, and institutions must confirm this before admitting them. The directive will take effect from the next orientation camp, and we will not register any candidate who did not complete, or undergo the process.”

She explained that the measure would promote the sanctity of the country’s education system hence prospective corps members who are HND graduates will be required to present evidence of completion of the one-year IT before being registered at any NYSC Orientation Camp.

A few weeks after this announcement was made, the NYSC in Abuja turned back hordes of polytechnic graduates, who showed up at the orientation camp without their one-year internship certification.

In shedding some light on the development, the NYSC’s spokeswoman, Caroline Lembu, explained that the one-year training programme is a requirement for HND holders’ admission into the scheme.

“It is one of the documents that they (HND holders) are required to present at the camp,” Lembu said, adding: “They would get admission into the camp, but whether they would be registered or not is the issue. You know, everyone is admitted to the camp, where documents are scrutinised. Since the one-year IT certificate is a prerequisite for getting the HND certificate, it must be presented. So, it is better to get it clear that it is just the certificate that the NYSC is asking for, the prospective corps’ members are not being rejected; they are supposed to present it.”

Lembu, who explained that the development “is a national policy to sanitise the education sector,” added: “We send those who don’t have industrial training certification back home to bring them because it is part of the registration materials that they must bring to camp. Once they bring their IT certificates from where they observed it, they are allowed to return to the camp.” In Niger and Kano states, as well as, in some other parts of the country, the mandatory 12-month industrial training certification has become a golden visa for entering the orientation camp.

‘One-year industrial attachment critical requirement for HND admission’
THE National President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) Shammah Kpanja, backed the NYSC policy, describing the industrial attachment as an extension of the National Diploma (ND) programme and a critical requirement for advancing to the HND.

“To be eligible for the HND, you must complete a one-year industrial attachment, where you acquire practical industry skills relevant to your field of study. It is after the completion of the IT, that the students are qualified to enrol for the Higher National Diploma. However, some students bypass this requirement by staying home after their ND and falsely claiming to have completed the IT when applying for the HND.

“This deprives them of the practical experience that is essential for their development. The one-year industrial attachment is not just a formality; it’s a mandatory part of the training, and the skills gained during this period are expected to be demonstrated during the HND programme,” Kpanja explained.

The ASUP chief stressed that the NYSC’s decision not to admit polytechnic graduates without IT certificates followed a communication to the agency by the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), adding that the one-year industrial training is compulsory, and a key criterion for admission into the HND.

“The National Board for Technical Education has communicated to NYSC that industrial training is mandatory, ensuring that students who skipped this step are not mobilised for the scheme. The entire programme spans five years, and the inclusion of IT is fully supported as it provides invaluable experience for students,” Kpanja added.

In the same vein, a national leader of ASUP and former president of the union, Usman Dutse, who also agreed that industry attachment is a pre-requisite for admission to the HND programme, however, noted that the issue should have been handled at the institutional level, monitored by the NBTE, and not at the NYSC camp.

Dutse pointed out that there are regulatory agencies like the NBTE that visit institutions periodically to cross-check and ensure quality control before accrediting or re-accrediting them.

“All these things are part of the requirements that are there, and are supposed to be done at the institutional level, not at the camp because, for things like regulations and quality control, there are agencies in charge.”

The ASUP leader said demanding for IT certificates at the NYSC camps shows that the service is doubting the capacity of NBTE to address all the requirements for admission.

Although he noted that the institutions may violate some of the laid down rules and guidelines, Dutse, maintained that it is the duty of the NBTE to ensure that those things are enforced since its officials go for accreditation and are aware of the requirements.

According to the law, graduates of polytechnics and mono-technics must undergo one-year training with evidence of completion before applying for the HND programme, and institutions must confirm this before admitting them.

Findings from some HND-awarding institutions showed that most of them do not confirm IT compliance before admitting students, thus graduating thousands who now face hurdles to participate in national service after being mobilised by the NYSC.

These institutions simply disregarded these regulations by enrolling students without the required one-year IT certificate. The NYSC maintained that there is no going back on the policy as efforts must be made to correct the anomalies in the system.

Students fault enforcement of policy by NYSC, call for ‘rethink’
EVEN though the National Association of Polytechnic Students (NAPS) has faulted the NYSC’s decision not to register polytechnic graduates without IT certification any longer, it admits that industrial training is part of the conditions that must be met before being admitted for the HND program. With the failure of school authorities to enforce NAPS called for a rethink to reduce the burden of graduates that have been mobilised for service already.

Similarly, the immediate past president of the ASUP, Anderson Ezeibe, said that stopping graduates from undergoing their service year was beyond the brief of the NYSC, as the agency, by its action, appeared to be querying the criteria, or requirement for admission of students into HND programmes in Nigerian polytechnics.

“To the best of my knowledge, the mandate of the NYSC is to get the graduates and take them through the service year; it is not for the agency to start asking whether these students met the requirements for admission because they did not undergo industrial attachments before being admitted for the HND programme,” Ezeibe argued.

The former ASUP boss also described the action as discriminatory, saying there was no case of NYSC rejecting products from universities because of industrial attachment.

“I know that for a lot of institutions, particularly universities of technology, industrial attachment is as important as you get in the polytechnics. In these universities of technology, students do as much as six months of industrial attachment at some levels, before their final year and graduation. So, it is a very important part of their programme and a course just as it is in the polytechnic system, but nobody has heard that NYSC is demanding proof of IT from graduates of the university system,” Ezeibe stated.

This notwithstanding, the former ASUP president said it is not to say that the industrial attachment is not important.

According to him, the institutions should put mechanisms in place to ensure that students are made to go through the mandatory one-year industrial attachment before seeking admission for HND.

Beyond submitting evidence of industrial attachment, Ezeibe pointed out that it is the responsibility of the institutions (as there are provisions for them, concerning the Industrial Training Fund), to monitor these students in the course of industrial attachment proper in their different places of attachment.

On claims that many couldn’t get placements for their industrial attachments, Ezeibe stressed the need to strengthen the mechanism between the institutions and the Industrial Training Fund to ensure that students get placements in the first place, even though industries are shutting down and leaving, the country in droves.

Ezeibe also emphasised the need for NBTE to strengthen its regulatory duties and ensure that institutions, alongside ITF, overcome challenges associated with actual placements. On the fate of those sent back from the camp, both Ezeibe and Dutse pleaded that the affected graduates be called back to participate in the mandatory one-year scheme.

Some affected HND graduates are calling for leniency to enable them to undergo their service year, even though they also argue that their institutions should be blamed for any discrepancies since they were admitted without requiring IT certification, or alerting them to the need for it.

Industrial training is meant to expose students to the real world of work, which, in most cases, is different from classroom scenarios. Many students return from their training with the discovery that classroom work is totally out of tune with what is obtained in the real world.

Scholars who expressed support for the agency in its efforts at sanitising the system said the affected students should be penalised.

Besides, they tasked the agency to ensure that institutions that graduated their HND students without verified IT exposures are also sanctioned for churning out poorly educated and unemployable products.

They tasked the Federal and state governments to collaborate with the management of the various HND-awarding institutions to facilitate students’ participation in their industrial training programmes.