FG shelves conversion of polytechnics to universities

30.05.2008

The Federal Government said on Thursday in Abuja that it had shelved the planned conversion of polytechnics into universities. ``Our new direction is to make Polytechnics and Colleges of Education first degree awarding institutions.

``The consolidation of contiguous tertiary institutions has been suspended because of the uniqueness of polytechnics to national development,'' said Dr Aja Nwachukwu, the Education Minister.

Nwachukwu, who announced this at a news conference, said government had resolved to strengthen the institutions, to make them concentrate on their primary mandate.

``We decided to strengthen the polytechnic education and make the institutions concentrate on their primary mandate and increase access to tertiary education,'' he said.

Nwachukwu said government planned to phase out Higher National Diploma (HND) and replace it with Bachelor of Technology, as the institutions matured.

Colleges of Education (COE), he emphasised, would be upgraded to award Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) in addition to National Certificate in Education (NCE).

Nwachukwu said Junior Secondary Schools had also been restored in unity colleges, in compliance with the Universal Basic Education (UBE) law.

``We have decided to bring back the JSS National Examinations Council (NECO) has been mandated to conduct entrance examination for JSS 1 students for 2008/2009 academic year,'' he said.

Nwachukwu said the concession of the schools to private operators had also been halted. “They are visible evidence of federal presence in many localities, giving them out negates these objectives,” he said.

``We also discovered that there was no risk-sharing arrangement in the plan. ``The operators would have been given money to run the schools, rather than they investing their resources, '' he said.