About 24 polytechnics and colleges of education have been converted to universities by the Federal and State Governments in the last three years, a move described by the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) as an attempt to ‘kill’ technical education in the country.
This came as the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) warned against the proliferation of universities, amid inadequate funding of existing ones.
Stakeholders have described the move as worrisome, considering the function polytechnics and colleges of education play in producing middle-level manpower.
Polytechnic education provides technical and vocational training, technology transfer, and skills development to enhance the socio-economic development of the country, while colleges of education are tasked with producing teachers for secondary schools as provided in the national policy on education.
Findings by The Guardian showed that the President Bola Tinubu-led administration approved the conversion of Adeyemi College of Education and Alvan Ikoku College of Education, to universities.
Earlier in the year, the immediate-past governor of Kano State, Abdullahi Ganduje, converted the state-owned college of education, Saadatu Rimi College of Education, into a university.
Governor Seyi Makinde of Oyo State upgraded the state-owned Emmanuel Alayande College of Education to a university of education.
Former governor of Osun State, Gboyega Oyetola, also announced the conversion of Osun State College of Education, Ilesha, to the University of Ilesha.
Similarly, Governor Babajide Sanwo Olu of Lagos State announced the conversion of Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education and the Michael Otedola College of Education to the Lagos State University of Education.
He also announced the upgrade of the Lagos State Polytechnic to the Lagos State University of Science and Technology.
In March 2022, the former governor of Sokoto State, Aminu Tambuwal, received approval from the National Universities Commission (NUC) to upgrade the state-owned Shehu Shagari College of Education, Sokoto, to a university.
The immediate-past governor of Delta State, Ifeanyi Okowa, in 2021, announced the conversion of the College of Education, Agbor, to the Delta State University of Education, and the Delta State Polytechnic, Ozoro, to the Delta State University of Science and Technology.
Some of the other affected polytechnics and colleges of education are the Abia State Polytechnic; Abia State College of Education; Abia State College of Health Sciences and Management Studies; Federal Polytechnic, Ilaro; Federal Polytechnic, Offa; Yaba College of Technology; and the Kaduna State Polytechnic, among others.
Though the NUC noted that the reason for the upgrade of the institutions was to increase access to university education, ASUP described it as frivolous and an attempt to wipe out public polytechnics in the country.
ASUP national president, Dr Anderson Ezeibe, reminded that polytechnics were established to produce professionals in technical and vocational education, to address manpower needs.
“This is why the practical component in the curricula for polytechnics is higher, as they are expected to produce people with hands-on expertise. This is not the same with universities.
“The question for those who are on this voyage of conversion, like the Lagos State Government, is whether the need for such manpower has been satisfied. The principal reason for the upgrade is just because the enrolment figures are dropping across polytechnics due to the discrimination against their products,” Ezeibe said.
He added: Our proposal of allowing polytechnics to attain degree-awarding status will resolve all these issues: satisfy the quest for degree-level certification, deepen technical education through curricula enhancement, retain the expanding pool of qualified manpower in the polytechnics, attract funding, and stop the HND/degree dichotomy.
Ezeibe noted that polytechnics should retain the ordinary national diploma certification as middle-level manpower, and use same as feed for a bachelor of technology certification to be awarded by polytechnics.
The Guardian
