The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) said on Monday that holders of Higher National Diploma (HND) would soon be employed as Assistant Lecturers in Polytechnics and Monotechnics.
The Executive Secretary of the Board, Prof. Idris Bugaje, disclosed this while speaking with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna. Bugaje pointed out that currently only degree holders were being employed in polytechnics as assistant lecturers.
He lamented that HND holders were relegated as technicians and technologists in laboratories and workshops in the polytechnic sector, which he described as “gross injustice”.
“Why should somebody from the university system come and midwife over a different system and become lords over them?
“The highest product in the polytechnics is the HND, as such, the best of these graduates should be employed as assistant lecturers and grow within the systems to have their Master’s degree.
“They can rise through the ranks to become Chief Lecturers and eventually become Rectors of their respective institutions.
The NBTE boss said that the scenario would change with the new Scheme of Service for the Technical and Vocational Education and Training(TVET) sector.
He said that the scheme of service was awaiting approval by the Head of Service hopefully by the end of 2022 or early 2023.
He commended the Federal Ministry of Education for the support in ensuring the new scheme of service was developed and submitted to the Head of Service for approval. NAN recalls that Bugaje had, on assumption of office in April 2021 as Executive Secretary of the NBTE, promised to transform the board to greater heights.
He unveiled a three-point agenda: Scheme of Service, Skills, and the NBTE Spirit. On Scheme of Service, Bugaje had stressed the importance of having a unified Scheme of Service in the TVET sector.
He explained that the new scheme of service would ensure that staff of NBTE would exit the service at the age of 65 and would go on sabbatical to polytechnics.
“In the same vein, polytechnic staff will also come to NBTE on sabbatical. “This will promote interaction and understanding among the stakeholders in the TVET sector,” he had said.
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