Salvaging Technical and Vocational Education

Government Technical College Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State was cited in the report as a typical example of the infrastructural rot that characterises the schools. The principal of the college, Mrs Grace Oloruntoba, was reported to have described the facilities in her school as ‘Mongo Park’ equipment. The school hall that was built to serve as […]

Government Technical College Ado-Ekiti in Ekiti State was cited in the report as a typical example of the infrastructural rot that characterises the schools. The principal of the college, Mrs Grace Oloruntoba, was reported to have described the facilities in her school as ‘Mongo Park’ equipment. The school hall that was built to serve as the college’s workshop for furniture-making has become a warehouse for storing obsolete equipment. The machines were reportedly supplied in 1964 when the school was established. Rather than subject students to practical activities in the workshop, teachers scrawl diagrams of machines on the blackboard, which at best could only bear little resemblance to real ones.
The report also reveals that Government Technical College Owo in Ondo State which was established in 1963 suffers similar appalling infrastructural deficit. It is equally disturbing that few technical colleges that are lucky to benefit from the supply of equipment by donor agencies and companies hardly make use of such facilities. The students in most cases only ‘imagine’ how these machines operate but cannot ‘see’ them work because the electricity to power the machines is often unavailable.
Technical and Vocational Education was incorporated into the Nigerian education system as a national development strategy. Its broad goals, according to the National Policy on Education, include training and imparting necessary skills to individuals who shall economically be self-reliant – a necessary requirement for agricultural, commercial and overall economic development. It also aims at providing trained manpower in applied sciences, technology and business sectors. With a minimum entry requirement of the Junior School Certificate, the curriculum of technical colleges was designed to include but not limited to training for skills such as bricklaying and concrete work, painting and decorating, plumbing and pipe fitting, carpentry and joinery, furniture-making, catering craft practice, garment-making, textile trades, dyeing and bleaching, electrical installation and maintenance work, appliances repair, computer maintenance work, and so on.
But the realities of technical colleges in the country today are far from meeting the goals of the National Policy on Education. The policy of ensuring 1:20 teacher-students ratio in practical lessons is still an illusion. Neither has the same policy worked to meet the socio-economic expectations of Nigerians. The dearth of relevant and functional equipment for effective teaching and learning of technical and vocational skills has over the years hindered the successful realisation of the cardinal objectives of the policy.
A key solution lies in the provision of necessary workshop equipment for all TVE courses. Technical colleges ought to have adequate equipment with the establishment by the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology of the Scientific Equipment Development Institutes (SEDIs) in Enugu, Minna and Lagos. These institutes were founded decades ago with a core mandate of designing and producing machines and equipment required by school workshops and laboratories. Importing such machines shall be seen to be part of the corrupt practices that sadly characterise our national life. The little fund that may be provided to SEDIs by government should be judiciously used for the purpose it was appropriated.
The National Policy on Education envisages that the graduates of technical colleges should be able to: (1) secure employment after completing one or more modules of employable skills; or (2) set up their own business and become self-employed and be able to employ others; or (3) further their technical knowledge and vocational skills in advanced craft/technical programme in tertiary technical institutions such as polytechnics or colleges of education (technical) or universities of technology. These three options that are open to trainees on completion of their programmes could only become feasible with well-equipped workshops. Technical colleges would also do better if their guidance and counselling services are strengthened to ensure that students are properly guided in their career choices. They do better when they are offered courses that match their aptitudes and appeal to their interests.