Federal Government directs polytechnics, monotechnics to stop awarding degrees

The Federal Government has directed polytechnics, monotechnics and other allied institutions to stop awarding degrees.

Polytechnics, monotechnics, and other related schools are no longer allowed to provide degrees, according to a directive from the federal government.

The National Board for Technical Education conveyed the government’s decision to heads of the affected institutions in a circular marked TEB/PRO/E/12/Vol.11/132 dated December 1, 2022.

Our correspondent was able to secure a copy of the paper on Tuesday, which was signed by Ogoh Ngbede, the director of the board’s Polytechnic Programmes Department.

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Ngbede highlighted the dismay of the Federal Ministry of Education at the growing number of tertiary institutions offering programs for which they were not initially intended.

However, he said that the government had given the affected schools four years to graduate the most recent group of students who had been accepted for such programs.

The circular read in part, “Polytechnics and other technical institutions in the country should immediately stop admitting students into degree programmes.”

“Similarly, polytechnics and allied institutions awarding Nigerian Certificate in Education should restrict themselves to technical courses.”

“However, already admitted undergraduates for these programmes should be allowed to round up the programmes into which they are already admitted.”

“Institutions have been given a period of four years (up to 2026) to graduate their last set of students for such programmes.”

Over the years, the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has urged the government to let polytechnics to confer degrees. The awarding of degrees by polytechnics, according to the union’s national president Anderson Ezeibe, would put an end to the current dichotomy.

He said, “HND is no longer as attractive as it used to be to Nigerian youths because of the age-long dichotomy. Policymakers have made it a rule that once an individual has an HND, he cannot attain the peak of his/her career, then why are they continuing to force it on people, why don’t they phase it out and replace it with Bachelor of Technology?”

He asserts that Nigeria’s polytechnic system has the necessary infrastructure and personnel resources to grant Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees in technology.

The government’s decision was enthusiastically supported, according to an interview with the Director of Programmes at Reform Education Nigeria, Ayodamola Oluwatoyin.

She said, “It is a very good initiative. Universities and polytechnics exist for different reasons. While it is largely believed that universities focus on theories, polytechnics focus on practical ones. So why should one want to take over the duty of another?

“However, it is worthy of note to remind the government about to promise to eliminate the dichotomy between degrees and Higher National Diplomas. We need to understand that the two awards serve different purposes hence, one should not be seen as lower than the other.”