Stakeholders under the aegis of Polytechnics Reformation Team (PRT) has submitted a new roadmap for Nigeria’s polytechnic education to the federal government, canvassing for implementation of a curriculum based on 80% practical skills and 20% theoretical knowledge.
The existing policy being implemented by National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) is 70%/30%.
The new PRT submission, prepared by a 13-member panel drawn from polytechnics across the country, is “a bottom-up approach towards evolving a viable and sustainable solution to the policy from Lecturers, Instructors, Technologists and non-teaching staff in the polytechnic system in whose constituency and domain the pivot of the policy revolves and resides.”
The PRT stated that the federal government should as a matter of urgency “embark on the process of award of B.Tech for Polytechnics across the country as obtainable currently in polytechnic establishments globally” and recognise “HND certificates as par with BSc degree holders “to end the age-old discrimination between holders of the certificates. This thorny problem is responsible for low enrolment of students in polytechnic education.”
In a letter dated February 14, 2025 and addressed to the Minister of Education, Dr. Morofu Olatunji Alausa signed by chairman of the PRT, Engr. Jide Soyemi, PhD and Nordiana Osagie (Secretary), the group said the roadmap, a product of their move to recommend “viable strategies,” was “to enhance effective policy implementation directed at revamping the polytechnic sub-sector in particular and the Nigerian economy in general.”
They noted that the new approach is a “marked departure from the top-bottom approach through which policy decisions devolve to academic staff for implementation,” adding that if the new roadmap is implemented, even polytechnics would “have the capacity to embark on the manufacture of the solar panels through the establishment of a solar village for the purpose.”
Explaining the gains for NBTE to review its current curriculum to reflect the new policy thrust of 80% practical skills and 20% theoretical knowledge, the group also submitted that “contracts from within and outside the polytechnic that require professional expertise of personnel domiciled in disciplines offered in the polytechnics should be used to execute the contract.”
This, it said, is because in the construction of a building, the Architect required to design a building plan, the Civil Engineer who does the structural design, the Quantity Surveyor who evaluates the total cost of the building, the Building Technologist who moulds the blocks, roofing of the building and constructs tables, seats, cabinets, etc, for the building, the Electrical Engineer who performs the conduit wiring and the urban and Regional Planner who supervises the aesthetic landscape of the building are all available within a given institution.
The PRT noted that “the collaborative efforts of the various disciplines in executing the project fundamentally involve students. They gain invaluable practical skills, experience and knowledge from the overlapping and collaborative effort. These practices were in vogue in our polytechnics in the early 1980s and needs to be restored.”
Part of the letter by the Polytechnic Reform Team (PRT) to the Minister of Education reads: “After exhaustive discussion on the new policy, PRT approached it through the 5 TERMS OF REFERENCE below and through a Committee representative of the spread of Polytechnics in the 6 geo-political zones of the country;
1. To identify CORE disciplines run in polytechnics in the country;
2. To identify those susceptible to application of the FME policy of 80% practical skill & 20% theoretical knowledge;
3. To identify disciplines ready for immediate implementation of the policy and others that require incubation prior to implementation;
4. To identify impediments hampering its realization in the past, immediate & in the future;
5. To make recommendations as well as proffer other solutions relevant to the success of the policy.
(a) Polytechnic Education has its roots in Schools of Engineering, Environmental Studies and Applied Sciences generally. School of Agricultural Technology & many others constitute disciplines found to be CORE polytechnic programmes too.
(b) Virtually all the disciplines run in the polytechnic, including ICT meets the Federal Government new policy of 80% practical skills and 20% theoretical knowledge. Most importantly, 70% of them are capable of providing Internal Generated Revenue, (IGR) for the respective polytechnics if given adequate attention and funding.
(c) Disciplines like automobile engineering, welding and fabrication technology, auto-body technology, etc, does not require huge capital to kick-start them in workshops domiciled in polytechnics in the country. A well equipped tool box, modern welding machine, spraying machine and other accessories are what is needed. Others in the same class are renewable energy technology, food technology, nutrition and dietetics, hospitality management. Disciplines that require incubation or gestation period with adequate funding are in the food chain of agriculture and related fields, printing technology, textile technology, food technology, etc.
(d) The existing 70%/30% NBTE policy has been encountering many impediments. The impediments are likely to affect the 80%/20% policy. These impediments include, but are not limited to the following;
(i) Inadequate capital to purchase basic equipment, tools, etc, for the disciplines;
(ii) Inability to recruit needed experienced manpower to operate installed machines optimally;
(iii) Preponderance of obsolete equipment in many disciplines irrelevant to contemporary job market;
(iv) Supply of computerized state-of-the-art equipment by TETFUND special intervention to polytechnics or through contractors without a trained skilled manpower personnel either to install or operate the equipment;
(v) The result of the above is that most equipment supplied to departments for NBTE re-accreditation exercises many years ago remain uninstalled and unusable till the next round of re-accreditation exercise of the department;
(vi) Absence of accessories for the installation of the equipment to make them functional;
(vii) Inadequate regular electric energy to power the installed equipment/machines;
(viii) Poor funding of polytechnics by the FME to ensure that the installed equipment are maintained – serviced. Unserviceable parts replaced as at when due for optimal performance. Also purchase of regular needed supportive equipment.
(e) RECOMMENDATIONS: These are as follows;
1. NBTE to review its current curriculum on programmes run in disciplines of polytechnics to reflect the new policy thrust of the FME which is 80% practical skills and 20% theoretical knowledge;
2. Contracts from within and outside the polytechnic that require professional expertise of personnel domiciled in disciplines offered in the polytechnics should be used to execute the contract. For instance, a new building construction requires the services of an ARCHITECT for the design of the PLAN; CIVIL ENGINEER does the STRUCTURAL DESIGN. A QUANTITY SURVEYOR evaluates the total cost of the building. The BUILDING TECHNOLOGIST moulds the blocks, roofing of the building and constructs tables, seats, cabinets, etc, for the building. The ELECTRICAL ENGINEER performs the conduit wiring while the URBAN & REGIONAL PLANNER supervises the aesthetic landscape of the building. The collaborative efforts of the various disciplines in executing the project fundamentally involve students. They gain invaluable practical skills, experience and knowledge from the overlapping and collaborative effort. These practices were in vogue in our polytechnics in the early 1980s and needs to be restored.
3. Massive retraining of Technologists, Instructors and Lecturers on contemporary hands-on experience vis-à-vis theoretical knowledge. This can be done by engaging the services of skilled manpower in relevant fields from the industry on contractual basis through workshops.
4. Recruitment of skilled manpower from the industry to install, operate, teach and service equipment, machines, tools etc, domiciled in workshops, studios and laboratories in various departments in the polytechnic;
5. Installation of solar power in all departments for the actualization of the policy.
Polytechnics have the capacity to embark on the manufacture of the solar panels through the establishment of a solar village for the purpose;
6. Embark on the process of award of B.Tech for polytechnics across the country as obtainable currently in polytechnic establishments globally;
7. Recognition of HND certificate as par with BSc degree holders to end the age-old discrimination between holders of the certificates. This thorny problem is responsible for low enrolment of students in polytechnic education.
8. Since emphasis is on skill acquisition to be imbibed by students in all disciplines in the system, interface with relevant industries by polytechnics are essential through signing of MOU for mutual satisfying and enduring partnership. This ensures that the workshops, studios and laboratories, farms, etc, are in optimal condition all year round and available for students to acquire myriads of practical skills.
9. The need for the federal government to put forward a policy on linkages between polytechnics and industrial needs. Eg, all technical firms should direct their technological needs (that are available and can be sourced locally) to polytechnics instead of sourcing from foreign firms.
10. Sabbatical leave, (one year) staff internship in the industry should be encouraged. It deserves to be sponsored by TETFUND.
11. Setting up a monitoring team from the NBTE to visit all polytechnics in the country at least quarterly to ensure that polytechnics abide by in principle and practice by the new policy of 80% practical skill and 20% theoretical knowledge ratio policy of the FME.
“From the foregoing, the new vision or rather total polytechnic concept will be that it should not only perform its statutory role as academic establishment but must also sustain itself financially.”