Whither Nigerian polytechnic education?

Those we expect to speak in moment of this nature are keeping mum. Is it that they are not affected or polytechnics are no longer regarded as important? What really surprised me was that as university teachers in ASUU embarked on strike which enters its second week now, it had attracted much attention by the […]

Those we expect to speak in moment of this nature are keeping mum. Is it that they are not affected or polytechnics are no longer regarded as important? What really surprised me was that as university teachers in ASUU embarked on strike which enters its second week now, it had attracted much attention by the government and the odium of other stakeholders.
It can hardly be in doubt that the Minister of Education, Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai is a strong-minded person. It is equally evident that she is one public officer still with the milk of kindness when it comes to policies and issues that have bearing on the wellbeing of these Institutions. That explains why I find this unfathomable saga displeasing and discriminatory, driven by parochial instincts. I am on the view that the government has taken steps to encourage the vexed issue of certificate dichotomy as it gives more priority to universities in issues of this nature.
The discrepancies already registered towards our tertiary Institutions will never create better products or leadership entities. In fact, we will get fragment of mal-development, degradation, retrogression and will be afflicted by worse maladies related to state and societal failure: distorted brains, crudeness and a general march away from development by any definition.
It is high time the government divested from this disparity stuff and gave equal treatment to these Institutions in order to avert this imminent calamity of certificate supremacy and other vices. The polytechnics, apart from the technical oriented as they are, could equally be the technological hub for national development, if well harnessed.
The question is, what hope is there for our polytechnics? Should we abandon polytechnics or go with the rather asinine refrain that “polytechnics will be scrapped” or “Polytechnic will become history”?

Ahmed Abdulrahman, Kaduna <[email protected]>