Qualification for lecturing in Polys, COEs should be Master’s Degree – Prof Ajayi
What is the management doing to arrest cultism and other social vices in the college?Cultism is alien to the college because we have never had any incident of cultism since I became the provost of the college. We have put on ground preventive measures and these measures have been yielding results. So there is no […]
What is the management doing to arrest cultism and other social vices in the college?
Cultism is alien to the college because we have never had any incident of cultism since I became the provost of the college. We have put on ground preventive measures and these measures have been yielding results. So there is no cultism here but if you talk about general insecurity in the country, yes because the college is located in Nigeria and insecurity is one of the challenges that are affecting the education sector in the country and we cannot claim we’re unaware of it. So, in this college we have beefed up security by employing more security guards. We are also collaborating with the police and security agencies in that respect.
Recently, the National Universities Commission (NUC) pegged PhD as minimum qualification for lecturing in universities. What do you think should be the benchmark for polytechnics and Colleges of Education?
My opinion is that since PhD is now the minimum qualification for lecturing in the universities, that of polytechnics and Colleges of Education should also be upgraded. Presently what we have is that a first degree holder who just finished the NYSC can be employed as lecturer in polytechnic or College of Education. Now we are talking about the quality and standard of education so I believe if we upgrade the entry qualification for lecturing in the two institutions, we are indirectly improving the quality of education. So to me, the minimum qualification for lecturing in polytechnics and Colleges of Education should be Master’s Degree. If universities can upgrade theirs to PhD, I see no reason why polytechnics and Colleges of Education should not also upgrade theirs to at least Master’s Degree. If the quality of teaching improves it will reflect on the quality of graduates produced by the institutions as well as standard of education.
What do you think is responsible for the mass failure in WAEC last year and how can the problem be addressed?
There are so many problems responsible for that and these problems are well known to us. First, the quality of teachers matters a lot. Do we really have the qualified teachers to teach in our secondary schools, are they really trained teachers, are the teachers there to teach or using the place as a stepping stone, are they committed teachers, can they pass the knowledge across? Most of the teachers we have today have no passion for the profession. There is no way you can put in your best in any job you don’t have interest in doing it. Also, most of our schools don’t have functional libraries and laboratories. Again, the students are only interested in obtaining the certificates and not the knowledge hence, we now have miracle centres where you can pass your examination whether you read or not so long as you have the money.
What is your take on university and polytechnic dichotomy?
Well, government is handling that issues right now and it was one of the reasons polytechnics went on a long strike last year. In many countries including United Kingdom, you can obtain degree certificate in polytechnics. After all, the polytechnics were conceived at the beginning as institutions to produce middle class manpower. I have nothing against their agitation for them to be treated like the university graduates. Once the government can take care of the area of curriculum, quality of teaching, entry qualifications of students into the polytechnics, I don’t object to it. Government has set up committee on it and it has submitted its report so I think the government is addressing it.