Presidential Committee on Needs Assessment of Polytechnics / Colleges of Education submits reports

Abuja (Federal Ministry of Education Report) – The Committees  set up by the Nigerian Government to assess the infrastructural and related needs of the public Polytechnics and Colleges of Education  across the country with a view to obtaining the recommendations to guide Government in the repositioning of the institutions  have submitted their reports.
 
While presenting the reports on behalf of the members of the Committees on Tuesday, July 1, 2014 in Abuja, the Director of the Tertiary Education Department, Hindatu Abdullahi, who chaired the Committee of Colleges of Education said that the committees adopted diverse methodologies, including data collection templates to capture varied  information from fifty-nine (59) Polytechnics made up of 21 Federal and 38 States as well as sixty-six (66) Colleges of Education, comprising 21 Federal and 45 States.
 
According to her, the reports contain the findings and recommendations of the Committees based on facts, figures and tangible evidence gathered from the institutions visited. 
 
While receiving the report, the Supervising Minister of Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike thanked the members of the Committees for timely submission of the reports, saying the reports will be immediately forwarded to the President. He assured that the Government would extensively deliberate on the reports as done for the universities with a view to finding options to funding issues.
 
Some of the findings in the reports indicate that all the categories of physical facilities in both Polytechnics and Colleges of Education are grossly inadequate, while available ones are utilized beyond the installed capacity and some vital learning resources are completely unavailable. She further noted that the enrollment policy of 60:40 ratio for Science and Arts based courses in Colleges of Education and 70:30 in favour of Science /Technology and Arts/Social Sciences in Polytechnics has not been implemented.
 
The report also mentioned that in some institutions, the teacher-student ratio is low with most of the institutions not having on-campus hostels, while the available ones are overcrowded, poorly lit, not adequately ventilated and in a state of disrepair. Also, the municipal facilities available are inadequate and in poor condition. Based on these findings, the Committees recommended the completion of abandoned and on-going projects; rehabilitation and upgrading of facilities as well as infrastructures that are in the state of disrepair; provision and rehabilitation of students’ hostels through Public – Private Partnerships and the recruitment of qualified teachers and training /re-training of personnel.
 
The Committee further advocated the provision of essential learning resources / materials, saying all Polytechnics and Colleges of Education should be linked to the National Power Grid and should be provided with alternative power support to libraries, laboratories, workshops and studios as well as assurance of the review of the laws establishing them.
 
Specific recommendations were also made for Polytechnics which include: the need for removal of the dichotomy between holders of the 1st decree qualifications and Higher National Diploma, noting that the curriculum of Polytechnics should be reviewed regularly to address changes in industries and the demands of society with assurance of inputs from stakeholders. The recommendation stipulated that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) and the National Universities Commission (NUC) should develop standards for the award of Bachelor of Technology by Polytechnics.
 
In particularizing the recommendations for Colleges of Education, the Committee approved the grant of autonomy to deserving Colleges of Education to enable them award degrees in Education. It demanded the Colleges of Education running degree programmes to increase the enrollment of students into their programmes and the National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) to ensure that all Colleges of Education running degree programmes have not less than sixty percent PhD holders as part of the total academic staff strength for each of the degree courses as well as provision of Centres for Education Technology (CET) with all the requisite facilities.
 
In another development, the Committee informed that President Goodluck Jonathan in May 2013, approved the constitution of the NEEDS Assessment Committees of Nigerian Public Polytechnics and Colleges of Education. It also noted that the Supervising Minister for Education, Ezenwo Nyesom Wike inaugurated the Committee on October 28, 2013 to among others things carry out a detailed inventory and appraisal of all existing physical facilities for teaching and learning in the institutions with particular reference to their adequacy, quality and relevance.