“We all detest problems, but problems are the reason for every improvement we make”- John Hagee
Being part of the 80th Anniversary Planning Committee of my alma mater, one of the most prominent secondary schools in Ibadan afforded me the opportunity of a facility tour. While taking a walk round the school recently, I beheld one of the most dismaying sights I have seen lately. What used to be the school’s highly treasured Technical Workshop has been converted into a religious worship centre! No one could tell what had become of the equipment that made the workshop tick in the 1990s.
That is an indication of how well the Nigerian system treasures technical education and by extension, technical development. No wonder many of our graduates are operating at levels that are far from optimum. Rather than seek ways to develop the country via technological means, Nigerians have resorted to religion. We sometimes forget that after the creation of man, the first thing that God did was to give him the responsibility of subduing the earth. Interestingly, many 21st Century Nigerians are still looking up to God to ask for how to subdue their environment.
When Nigeria adopted the 6-3-3-4 system of education in the 1980s, many experts saw it as what the country needed. A system of education that would, on the long run, produce graduates who would be proficient in the use of the hand, head and heart; three key elements in education.
Only few however realized that as good as the motive was, the planning and execution were poor. A major flaw was that after the first three years in the secondary school, students adjudged to be brilliant would proceed to Senior Secondary School while the academically weak would either advance to learn a trade or the other or go to a Technical College. Even the proponents of the system have found the results highly disturbing over the years, having discovered that only limited development can take place without technical education.
Sadly, the aspect of education that is intended to drive national development has been left, at least until recently for “academically weak” students or students who have been termed “inferior”; thereby committing the future and development of the country into the hands of those who have fallen into educational disfavor. The myriad of woes that characterized the education system culminated in the quagmire Nigeria has found herself in. Many graduates are absolutely unemployable and there are no jobs for the ones that are employable. No further confirmation is needed to know that something is disturbingly wrong with Nigeria’s education system.
It must be noted that it is the height of absurdity to expect sustainable development without investing in human capital. The education sector therefore needs to be reformed as a matter of urgency with teaching, learning and the curriculum taken into cognizance.
Checks have revealed that China has over 1,000 technical institutions at tertiary level; hence the country’s membership of the world’s most exclusive club of inventors. Before it became one of the largest economies in the world, South Korea invested heavily in technical and vocational training.
With the chances of getting white collar jobs in Nigeria becoming more difficult by the day, the only way forward is to embrace Technical Education which the Encyclopedia Britannica defines as “the academic and vocational preparation of students for jobs involving applied science and modern technology”. The objective of technical education is thus to equip students with skills that allow them to effectively apply the theoretical knowledge that they have acquired. It is a known fact that technical education focuses more on the understanding and practical application of basic principles of science and mathematics.
Saying that most Nigerian universities these days have become mere degree-awarding institutions is like stating the obvious. In a ‘degree-crazy’ society like ours, many students begin their journey to professional suicide the day they graduate into the already saturated job market. They are duly certified but there is no job for them to do. Many have been deluded into thinking along a narrow disciplinary line that they can only function in their areas of certification.
It has already become obvious that the way out of the educational quagmire is to embrace technical education which will help to increase the opportunities available to students through an alternative form of education.
One thing that must be noted about technical education is that it prepares ground for development by training students to become initiators, facilitators and implementers of technological development. It will thus help drive development at the national level.
Fortunately, now that Nigeria is realizing the importance of Tertiary Technical Education, Oyo State has set the pace with the establishment of The Technical University, Ibadan. The university was conceived and birthed by the Governor Abiola Ajimobi administration to fill the gap between the competences of graduates and the requirements of the potential employers. While speaking at the matriculation of the University’s pioneer set of students recently, the Governor pointed out that the University was birthed by “the desire to cultivate a cadre of technical professionals who are equipped with entrepreneurial skills, in addition to their sound academic endowment and are capable of creating jobs instead of becoming a burdensome addition to our already overpopulated market of unemployed youths”.
The statement of the Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ayobami Salami that “the University strives to provide educational training that balances theoretical knowledge requirements with practical, hands-on experiences and skills in different academic disciplines as well as vocations of interest to the students” is a confirmation that The Technical University, Ibadan has commenced the process of developing the brains and training the hands of Nigeria’s future leaders for the responsibilities that lie ahead.
In other words, apart from technical education, Tech-U is a university of the future, where students are being exposed to vocational education; thanks to the establishment of the Centre for Vocational and Entrepreneurship Studies in the University. The university has an entrepreneurship curriculum that has been built into the different academic programmes and all students, irrespective of the degree programme to which they have been admitted, must go through and pass.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Ayobami Salami also confirmed at the ceremony that “within its short time of existence, the University’s Centre for Entrepreneurship and Vocational Studies has identified at least 10 inherent vocational skills among the first set of students, and has provided an enabling environment for the students to hone those skills” and for others to learn through peer coaching.
The blend of technical education with vocational education is enough proof that the founders of the school have taken a peep into the future and are prepared to blaze the trail in being the harbinger of the change Nigeria’s education system urgently needs. Since the thrust of technical education is to equip students with skills that allow them to apply the theoretical knowledge that they have acquired, Tech-U curriculum has been designed in such a way that the hands-on or practical is taught alongside the theoretical aspect of the course in a balanced form.
To ensure that the students don’t end up as traders, they will undergo entrepreneurship courses which will help them make business out of the training they receive.
With courses like Biomedical Engineering, Mechatronics Engineering and Cyber Security Science, The Technical University has blazed the trail by introducing innovative and attractive courses that are relevant to the needs of the country. The University is positioned to take the lead to re-position technical education as a critical determining factor for Nigeria’s future economic prosperity.
With technical education, the employability gap will surely be bridged. Gone are the days when the curriculum was run by the academics alone. The various industries that will employ graduates need to get involved in the drawing of the curriculum so as to ensure that the graduates produced meet specific needs in each industry.
In the 21st Century, countries that refuse to invest in technical education and vocational training risk being left behind.
Wole Adejumo, the Media Officer of The Technical University sent this in from Ibadan
