The Federal Government has lamented the dearth of qualified teachers with the right skills to teach students in technical colleges across the country.
The government has also expressed worry about low enrolment in technical colleges, thereby widening the skills gap in Nigeria.
Minister of Education, Prof. Tahir Mamman, who summoned the principals of Federal Technical Colleges and other stakeholders to a meeting on Wednesday in Abuja, said there was an urgent need to take a critical look at the challenges and issues affecting skills development and acquisition in Nigeria.
Mamman, who expressed disappointment about the neglect of technical education in Nigeria, vowed that the Federal Ministry of Education under his watch would take a hard look at issues surrounding technical education and come up with a definite policy before the resumption of schools for the new academic session in September 2024.
He described as an anomaly the renaming of Federal Government Technical Colleges to Federal Science and Technical Colleges.
The Minister gave a hint of the possible return of the Federal Government Science and Technical Colleges to the original Federal Technical Colleges, saying the schools are tilted towards sciences and derailed from the main focus of providing specialised hands-on training to students.
He insisted that even though science is key to everything the ministry is doing, it was not part of the technical colleges when they were initially established by the government, saying smuggling in science was a mistake.
In terms of enrolment, the Minister observed that while many students are enrolled in the sciences, the technical component of the colleges has suffered greatly with low enrolment.
He disclosed that the government would work on how to upskill the teachers of the technical colleges through training and retraining while additional hands are engaged to boost teaching and learning in the colleges.
While emphasising the need for skill acquisition among youth in Nigeria, Mamman lamented that the young Nigerians between the ages of 10 and 20 recruited for the hunger protest, mostly in Kaduna, Sokoto, and Maiduguri, were uneducated and lacked the skills to function on their own.
He said, “The technical colleges are supposed to be very attractive institutions for people to want to go to. But the information we have is not the case. We don’t know at what stage I was supposed to make an inquiry before I came, or at what stage the Technical College became Science and Technical College.
“They were supposed to be Federal Government Technical Colleges. So at what stage did we smuggle in science? I don’t understand. We know that science is very key to everything we are doing, but that is not on the agenda for these institutions.
“Those who want to do science programmes should go to regular colleges and continue their programmes there. Students who find themselves in technical colleges go purely for these technically specialised skills and training.
“So it was clearly a mistake at whatever stage this decision was taken, and with the rest of my colleagues, the Minister of State for Education, the Permanent Secretary, and the directors, we are going to take a hard look at this decision.
“Now, because of this, the information we are getting is that enrolment in the technical colleges is very low. Most of the students are going through the science component, so you have more students for the sciences and technical component with fewer students, and we have a shortage of teachers.
“This is to the extent that, according to the report from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), technical colleges are failing accreditation.
“I don’t want to say the number here because, for me, it is very embarrassing. From this academic session, we have resolved in the ministry to take a special focus on the technical colleges.
“We have discussed this with some of our development partners, and even within our budget, most of our focus has been on the purchase of equipment for the technical colleges,” Mamman stated.
The Minister of State for Education, Dr Yusuf Sununu, revealed on his part that the government would undertake a needs assessment of the technical colleges across the country.
He added that the Federal Government, through the Ministry, has planned to train more than 200,000 students on various skills with the support of the private sector, saying if the technical colleges are well-resourced, this would be an opportunity for them to handle the training programme.
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