With the second reading of a bill seeking to put Nigerian polytechnics
at par with the universities on Wednesday, the Senate has intensified
moves to address the age-long clamour to bridge the dichotomy between
the two higher institutions.
Entitled “A Bill for an Act to Abolish and Prohibit Dichotomy and
Discrimination Between First Degrees and the Higher National Diploma in
the Same Profession/Field and Related Matters,” the bill was sponsored
by Senator Ayo Akinyelure (Ondo Central) who is also the proprietor of
All Over Polytechnic in Lagos.
Leading a debate on the bill, Akinyelure who said the framework was
propelled by wage disparity and gross discrimination against HND holders
in the public and private sectors, noted that the situation “is
threatening to derail the nation’s core policy thrust of evolving a
technologically and scientifically based, self-sufficient and
self-reliant society in the nearest future. Hence, the need for Senate
intervention at this juncture.”
He added: “Without mincing words, and as l speak, thousands of would-be
polytechnic and technology students are contemplating or have decided
to opt for university education because of perceived and real
discrimination against HND graduates in relation to their counterparts
who are university degree holders. If this contemplation occurs, there
is bound to be a vacuum created in our labour market in this regard and
dire consequences are bound to follow this trend.”
Akinyelure, who claimed that polytechnic education dwells mainly on the
practical while that of the university is merely theoretical, added
that the degree of discrimination against HND holders in the country is
so appalling to such an extent that they are employed as gatemen while
their fellow university graduates are employed with dignity into ranking
offices.
The senator who also claimed that HND holders in the field of
accountancy, engineering, among others, had been found to be better on
the field than degree holders, added that both qualifications are not
supposed to compete together but should rather complement each other.
Furthermore, he said initiating this bill had become compelling in view
of the fruitless promises allegedly made by the federal government to
rectify the disparity between the two institutions in the past adding
that the bill aims at promoting “technological advancement instead of 90
per cent of qualified candidates pursuing university education which is
more theoretical without adding the needed value to the system of
technological advancement of our great nation.”
But a number of senators kicked against the bill, describing it as
baseless as they argued that the clamour to raise the value of
polytechnic education to that of the university amount to wanting HND
holders to reap where they did not to sow.
The opposing senators who described the objectives of the bill as
misplaced, argued that the polytechnic education is structurally
different from that of the university.
According to them, these structural differences must first of all be addressed before any clamour could be relevant.
Therefore, they argued that not only are the entry requirements into
the university more complex than that of the polytechnics, it is mere
university graduates that teach in the polytechnics, saying the
situation is different in the university where Ph.D is the central
qualification to attain ranking in lecturing.
But the opposition notwithstanding, the bill scaled second reading and
referred to the committee on education for further legislation.
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