Reviving comatose technical education beyond enrolment drive

Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, recently decried low sign-up in technical colleges and called on their heads to urgently explore ways of populating the labs. Stakeholders, however, reckon that beyond the quick-fix measure, the skill chamber arm of education needs curriculum that is fit-for-purpose, attractive training facilities and a society that prioritises skills recognition than certification, IYABO LAWAL reports.

Although successive governments have made efforts to promote technical education, enrolment into technical colleges has remained dismal compared to general education programmes.

The National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) conducts the National Technical Certificate (NTC) and National Business Certificate (NBC) examinations for candidates in May-June, as well as, the advanced level versions for external candidates in October-November of every year.

Illustrating the grim picture here is the fact that in 2014/2015, no fewer than 76,363 candidates sat for the May-June NTC/NBC examination; 69,472 in 2015/2016; 58,014 in 2016/2017; 55,480 in 2017/2018; 32,718 in 2018/2019, 23,425 in 2019/2020; 18,372 in 2020/2021; and 15,429 in 2021/2022.

The transition rate at the end of junior secondary school projected by the Nigerian government in its National Policy on Education is as follows: senior secondary schools at 60 per cent; technical colleges at 20 per cent, vocational training centres at 10 per cent, and apprenticeship schemes at 10 per cent.

However, at the current yearly turnout rate of junior secondary schools of about four million, expected enrolments in technical colleges should be 800,000 (20 per cent), according to research by a university scholar, Jane Itohan Oviawe.

The growth and development of any nation depend on the skills of the workforce, which in turn is a necessary reflection of the quality of the education system.

Sadly, as illustrated by the statistics above, technical education’s descent into oblivion is accelerating at a reasonable speed.

Last August, Mamman, decided to take the bull by the horn by charging the NBTE, and the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) to develop a skills curriculum for adoption and implementation. The minister urged the agencies to come up with a curriculum for all levels of education and make it ready before the commencement of the present academic session, which began earlier this month.

According to him, implementing the skills curriculum by schools nationwide will help address the learning crisis.

“The only solution to address the skills gap is to expose the younger ones to skills,” the minister stated, adding that evidence on the ground indicates that after primary and secondary education, only 35 per cent of pupils transition to tertiary education. Also, there are about 65 per cent of young men and women who are not in school, not in employment, and do not have any form of training.”

In July this year, the Federal Government pledged to close the gender gap currently experienced in the National Business and Technical Examinations. Mamman in making the declaration, said that the education ministry was introducing skills programmes in schools from basic to tertiary education, noting that schools would be bound to implement the programmes.

“We have a lot of policies and measures to foster female participation in technical courses. I have been in the university, and I know how the numbers are growing rapidly in engineering, environmental sciences, medical, and allied courses. Once the skills programme is adopted, all schools would be bound to implement it, and it’s going to be a game changer.”

For the NABTEB Registrar, Prof. Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe, the bane of low female participation in technical education is simply the attitude of the society.

On their part, the Women Miners in Nigeria (WMIN) is calling for a review of the technical education curriculum in the country.

According to the National President of WMIN, Dr Janet Adeyemi, for Nigeria to reposition its solid minerals sector, there is a need to review its curriculum, particularly on technical education, in line with efforts to diversify the economy.

“We need to make sure that we rejig our educational curriculum and have technical schools. Even uneducated youths must be brought into the system and certified because we need welders, those that would work in foundries, and even software engineers in the course of mining, among many other skilled persons because the world has changed,” Adeyemi said.

The Rector of Oyo State College of Agriculture and Technology (OYSCATECH), Prof. Akinola Akinlabi, could not agree less.

According to him, his institution has been campaigning for skills recognition, not just certificates for quite a while now.

Akinlabi noted that the Women in Agricultural Technical Education and Apprenticeship in Nigeria (WATEA) project, sponsored by the French government in the school, was aimed at encouraging more women to participate in agriculture.

In July, The Polytechnic, Ibadan, signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with artisans, under the aegis of MasterCrafts Professionals in Oyo State, to enhance vocational and technical education in the country. The trades comprised automobile repairs, carpentry and joinery, electrical installation, masonry, welding, and fabrication.

Be that as it may, in the NBTE guidelines and structure of the Skills Development Centre adopted on June 7, 2023, at a meeting attended by the board officials, sector skills councils, awarding bodies, rectors and directors of the Skills Development Centre (SDC), it was noted as “worrisome”, the perennial impact of poverty in Nigeria, especially among the youths considering the high rate of unemployment, which stems from a lack of saleable skills that can guarantee their employability.

The document noted that public institutions and private organisations have tried to reduce the unemployment rate, by establishing skills development centres offering training in various occupational areas.

“But despite these efforts, these centres are confronted with numerous challenges that hamper their growth and progress. Among such challenges is the lack of nationally recognised occupational standards for unified training and assessment that can lead to the award of national certification,” the NBTE document stated.

Consequently, it explained that the contributions of these skills centres are yet to be felt significantly, not because skills acquisition is not taking place, but because the recognition and certification of the skills acquired by the trainees could not be ascertained.

It highlighted the Nigerian Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF). This is a system for developing, classifying, and recognising skills, knowledge, understanding, and competencies acquired by individuals, irrespective of where, how the training, or skill was acquired.

Spearheaded by NBTE, the NSQF is considered the surest way of recognising the competence level of trainees after acquiring the skills in their occupational areas.

The document underlines polytechnics as institutions with the potential to re-orient their training towards the National Skills Qualification award for both formal and informal candidates, but ironically, over the years, polytechnics only emphasise the technical aspect.

In its efforts to entrench vocational training in the polytechnics, the NBTE mandated the institutions to establish Skills Development Centres (SDCs) in their domains to adopt the NSQ training. This will enable them to open doors for the training of the informal sector, hence offering dual awards of National Diplomas and National Skills Qualifications (NSQ).

That said, to bring about the desired change, Oviawe emphasised that something must be done to improve the enrolment of students in technical education.

She explained that technical education lays a solid foundation for training future engineers, technologists, business people, technicians, artisans, and entrepreneurs.

“There is a need for technical education to change, otherwise Nigeria stands the risk of producing graduates and school leavers who will continue to roam the streets seeking white-collar jobs, instead of those who ought to be self-employed, and subsequently become employers of labour,” she stated.

She noted that the decline in enrolment, low quality of students at entry and higher levels, and the high unemployment rate among school leavers, presently depict the place of technical education programs in Nigeria.

Oviawe noted the dramatic increase in the unemployment rate in the country calling for students to acquire knowledge and saleable skills for the private sector, or self-employment, which can be achieved through early exposure to occupational guidance.

On his part, Dr Ola Akinlade, a senior lecturer at Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro, recommended conferences and workshops, follow-up studies, field trips, and stocking libraries with technical education journals.

According to him, an occupational conference on technical education could be organised for the whole school, a class, or a group of schools, and could be for a single day or several days or weeks.

Field trips and excursions, he said, bring students face-to-face with the real-work situation in the world of work. So, organising programmes like these enhance students’ interest and foster enrolment in technical education programmes.

“Here, students are made to visit professionals in the various fields of technical education programmes to learn about their jobs (how they work; what they do, and qualifications for entry into these fields). Field trips or work visits are a way to reinforce and expand on concepts taught in class,” Akinlade added.

He also recommended that journals, newspapers, magazines, and institutional brochures on technical education occupations be provided in school libraries for students to access and have current updates.

Like other arms of the education sector, a former President of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Usman Dutse, noted that technical education and technical schools are characterised by deplorable facilities and infrastructure, under-funding, inadequate staff, poor incentives, and lack of conducive learning environment.

Dutse said: “The bottom line is this; the government has failed to acknowledge the importance of technical education. The mindset is that it is looked down on as inferior, and lacks any pedigree required for a higher state of the society.

“That is why you would see that enrolment is very poor, but what the government fails to realise is that every economy is developed by the best of the skills that it has. These are areas where you develop skills; where dependence on the government can be reduced and the economy is improved. Importation will reduce when you have skilled manpower, and this manpower can create things according to the needs of their communities, and their society.”

On the way forward, Dutse said in line with the government’s resolve to diversify the economy, it should prioritise youth employment, empowerment, and entrepreneurship, while also developing the political will to fund the sector.

“Give it adequate funding, develop infrastructure, provide facilities, and also encourage and give recognition to skills acquired. Let the government develop confidence in the skills acquired; encourage industries to patronise local technicians.  Let there be synergy between industries and technical institutions so that they will be able to impact skills and become employable.”

On the other hand, he urged parents to encourage their wards to go to technical schools and place less emphasis on certificates and university degrees.