The Evaluation of the Implementation of VTE Programme in Nigeria (Case Study University of Abuja)
CHAPTER ONE
Objectives the Study
The study will be premised on the following research objectives;
- To determine the extent to which the social and political structures in Nigeria considered vocational and technical education as the basic ingredient for national development.
- To assess government policy and that of the management of University of Abuja encouraged or hampered the rate of enrolment, advancement and success of students.
- To determine the benefits Nigeria stand to gain by introducing a rapid boost in the growth of technical and vocational education sub-sector.
- To identify factors that constitute the cardinal crises of vocational and technical education in University of Abuja and profer solutions to them.
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW AND THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Introduction
This chapter will deal with a review of a broad spectrum of literature in the subject matter (Vocational Technical education) and application of a theoretical framework. It is imperative here to consider relevant issues that relate to technical education in Nigeria
Vocational Technical Education: Divergent Perspectives
Education generally can be considered as permanent change in behaviour as a result of learning, consists of all efforts (conscious or incidental) made by a society to accomplish set objectives, which are considered to be desirable in terms of the individual as well as the societal needs. In all human societies, particularly the modern ones, education remains one of the most powerful instruments for both the development of man and transformation of the human society. However, the efficacy of education as an instrument of transformation depends entirely on how the government manages the project meant for the upliftment of the educational system. (Abolarin, 2001).According to Aluede (2006) It is a truism that education is the source of national power. Even the most powerful nations of the world still increasingly invest in education.
In the present globalizing world, science and technology is the benchmark on which national progress and development is measured. Therefore, no nation can be competitive in the modern world without properly harnessing and developing its science and technology potentials. Socio-economic development is in the most dictated by the techno-scientific advancement, a global trend that is glaring.
In Nigeria, education has generally been recognized as an important catalyst for development. The National Policy on Education (NPE) sees education as an instrument per excellence for effecting national development. The policy stated the national goals of Nigeria on education which stressed its essence among other things was to encourage the acquisition of appropriate skills and the development of mental, physical and social abilities and competencies as equipment for individual to live in and contribute to the development of his society (Onukaogu, 2008).
However, Nigerian education system has attained massive expansion in the number of institutions, courses and enrolment across all tiers. But currently, the crisis in the sector reflected in much deeper and wider socio-economic and political crisis of the nation. This is because the tertiary education has been confronted with several problems that include falling standard, poor funding, infrastructural decay, poor social service and ethical problem such as cultism, examination malpractice, sexual harassment etc. Other reasons were equally advanced by scholars for the poor performance of sectors.
It is an indispensable fact that research efforts by scientists, inventions and designs by engineers cannot be translated into reality without the invaluable contributions of proficient and well-bred craftsman or technician who will make the difference in the success or otherwise of a production process, the affordability of food all year round, efficient transportation and housing system, the supply of essential utilities, and in general the quality of life available to the citizenry.
CHAPTER THREE
HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN NIGERIA
Introduction
This chapter deals with the historical development of technical education in Nigeria. It also deals with the entire history of the rise, progress and development of advanced countries of the world. In Nigeria, the early promoters of western education did not promote the study of sciences or technical courses.
Non-Governmental Effort in Technical Education from (1900-1960)
The first known effort at institutionalized technical and vocational education came more than 50-years after the first systematic introduction of the western type of education in Nigeria by the Christian Missions. The Methodist have the lead in bringing Western education in to Badagry near Lagos and later to the inland areas. Other Missions eventually followed; prominent among them were the Church Missionary Society (CMS) and the Roman Catholic Mission (RCM) which were later to play an immense role in educational development in the country, the Presbyterian, the Baptist and the Qua Iboe Mission (Inwang, 2000).
One of the earl post-primary institutions of renown was the Hope Waddell institute, Calabar which was establish in 1895 by the Presbyterian Church of Scotland Mission. It was one of the foremost educational and training centres in West Africa. It was this institution which first had meaningful programmes in technical and vocational education. The school consisted of three parallel sections, each with different curricula; these were the secondary section, the teacher training section and the industrial section.
The secondary section had students who followed literary education and the teacher training section produced teachers for primary schools. The industrial section, however, had students who taught various trades, such as printing, tailoring, carpentry, banking, engineering trade and agriculture. The students also learnt general subjects in addition to their trades.
CHAPTER FOUR
PRESENTATION OF RESULT AND ANALYSIS
Introduction
This chapter deals with data presentation, analysis and interpretation. As indicated in the introductory chapter the main instruments of this research are the questionnaires, followed by the interviews (even though secondary sources were used). Out of one hundred and twenty questionnaires administered, one hundred and eight were filled and returned. This shows that ninety percent of the total number of questionnaire administered were analyzed.
Percentages were used to interprete all the research findings. It is assumed that the analysis of vocational technical education in Nigeria as studied in University of Abuja would become manifested through the pattern of responses of the respondents to the items in the questionnaire.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
Summary
In a country like Nigeria where the prizes are so few, and the stakes so high, the fight for body or “national cake” is fierce and often vicious. It has at times led to a debilitating corruption in the arena of public policy making and implementation. “who gains, who loses federal, state and local policy arenas is rarely an accident. More often than not, the distributional consequences of public policies are the intended result of private interest which have been instrumental in their design, passage and implementation”. For the entire country, the manipulation of public policy for private purposes comprises yet another disjunction in our fractured history. Not every public policy fails, and not every public programme or project is redundant. But when once in a while a policy succeeds, it is often not because of government per se (Ikpeze, Soludo and Elekwa, 2004).
Virtually everyone who knows anything about the Nigeria education sector already knows that it is fast declining. There is no genuine patriot today who is not worried about the state of decline in the standard of education. The quality of teaching and learning, particularly in the polytechnic sector has declined; the quality of diplomas and higher diplomas awarded from our polytechnics is a shame to show-case anywhere. Most of them cannot justify the award of their diplomas. The education reputation of the country is a source of national shame.
In trying to address the problems raised in this study, the following salient issues were discussed; these are: what is the role of education in national building? What conditions in the Nigerian political environment affects the nature of the current dwindling technical education? And then, how has this education sub-sector fared?
As for the first issue, study have shown that Nigeria had a system of education during the colonial days which emphasized literary subjects and white collar jobs and paid little attention to vocational technical education and skilled occupations. The aim of education then was mainly for administrative and religious purpose. While it served the purpose in those days, such a system could not continue to serve Nigeria for long.
Secondly, as a result of deterioration of the Nigerian state and the economy, standards began to fall, especially with the advent of the military in the civil governance of the country. The system was militarized. The schools were deprived of adequate funding. Old infrastructure was not replaced or repaired. Teachers who had previously been well remunerated suddenly became over-worked and under-paid. Morale became low. The worsening economic situation did not help matters as unemployment ravaged school graduates. They became despondent. School leaves (graduate) suddenly turned into a shadow of what they used to be, and the outside world treated them as such. Eventually the problem got to the peak of its badness when employers began to reject and discriminate against graduate of universities. The situation has got to a frightening proportion that all stakeholders now agree that something has to be done urgently and decisively.
More importantly, the elites’ problem has been identified as a factor in the rot. The rich in our country have not helped matters. Aided by the general attitude of the people that government alone must provide everything that the citizenry needs, the rich have shut their eyes both to their responsibilities and the need of others. In some other climes, those who are well off in the society assist the government in the provision of infrastructures for the people and in the discharge of services considered to be primary duties of government.
Here in Nigeria, the rich who could afford to send their children to private schools where they pay more than a million naira per year are always the first to insist that public schools for the children be free.It was further noted that the Nigerian state is just educationally backward because of the rapacity of the ruling elites that has failed in institutional provisions and making funds available for the training of millions of school going children to become qualified school teachers. They believe these are better taken and put in their pockets.
More worrisome is eroded institutional capacity and culture for research, due to lack of funding and an environment, which discourages research, innovation and technology incubation with appropriate linkages to industries. Lack of research funds affects quality of teaching, graduate training and technology incubation, with overall negative impact on the quality of education.
Conclusion
Nigeria is an acknowledged leader in Africa. It must show leadership in many fundamental respects, not least in the ways in which it addresses the deep rooted education crisis, of which chronic underfunding is a major causal factor. Nigeria cannot afford to lag behind others in Africa and the third world on the priority it should accord education. At the very least, Nigeria should belong to the group of those who accord very high priority to technical education.
As Nigeria strives for greatness and elevation into the class of top 20 most developed countries by 2030, one priority area that requires urgent attention is that of human capital development. Education at all levels and at the tertiary levels in particular needs immediate attention. The sector is crisis-ridden and seems ill-prepared for producing national development requirements and globally competitive human capital is the key ingredient for national development and for proper placement in the contemporary global economic environment. Thus, the education sector is arguably the one requiring the most urgent immediate priority attention. The demand for vocational, professional and industrial-based programmes requires a separate sector with a separate and distinct tradition and outlook. In order to improve the delivery of quality technical and vocational education in Nigeria there is need for effective mobilization and efficient utilization of resources for this purpose. This should include public mobilization involving the various levels of governments and all stakeholders. The collaborative efforts should aim at supporting VTE and arousing students’/parents’ interest in science and technology course which could later result in increased enrolment into these programmes in the Universities.
Recommendations
This study reveals the elites manipulation and the character of the state actors has been responsible for the general rot in the Nigeria education and the vocational technical education sub-sector. In order to address the matter in all its ramifications, a total departure from the prevailing issues become very imperative.
In view of the degree of decay that has already eaten deep into the vocational technical education fabrics, a roadmap of action in which specific and general remedial actions are identified, is to be given urgent and deserved attention as a way out of the logging into a forward match! This can best be pursued by giving a holistic consideration to the following recommendations:
- A sustainable technical teacher formation scheme must be put in place as a way of ensuring the availability of good quality and specialists staff in the institution.
- A special allowance, to be known as Technical Teachers Allowance (TTA) of at least 10% of basic salary, should be introduced as part of incentives for Technical Teachers.
- The curricula of VTE institutions must be continually revised, expanded and modernized and made galvanize technical education delivery and reflect due relevance in its implementation. The curricula should emphasize on tacit knowledge, practical and entrepreneurship as well as reverse engineering.
- An intensive staff development project should be embarked upon to ensure that academic staff acquire the relevant post-graduate qualifications. More qualified lecturers should be employed to address shortage in some Universities. Similarly, effort should be made to improve the competence and effectiveness of existing staff by encouraging and sponsoring them to attend relevant courses, workshops etc, to enable them keep abreast of current development in their fields and professions. All forms of disparities in remuneration between staff in the Universities and their counterparts in the universities should be removed. This applies particularly to salary level barriers.
- The Education Committee of the National Assembly, and indeed all stakeholders, should also ensure that the National Assembly enables the federal government to respect collective bargaining agreements entered into with the various unions, as well as promote and enshrine constant dialogue to preempt and avert industrial relations conflict and crises. The current situation where the government is constantly on the defensive rather than being proactive needs to change.
- Fund expansion of infrastructure and facilities to expand the scope of enrolment: classrooms, laboratories, halls of residence, water supply, roads, sporting facilities, power generation etc.
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