‘Technical education,vital for devt’
By Josephine Oguntoyinbo
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For Nigeria to attain technological advancement, some policies on technical education should be changed, while more favourable policies should be formulated in the system.
The Secretary, Ondo State Board for Adult, Technical and Vocational Education, Dr (Mrs) Aarinola Akinsete made the assertion in an interview with The Hope in her office.
According to her, the clause from the national policy on education which stated that those who can will go to the University and those who can’t should go to the technical colleges is very discouraging.
The Secretary said that most parents struggle to ensure that their children go to the university..
She suggested that students who want to study engineering course should go to technical schools instead of the normal schools, so that they can learn the practical aspects of how to handle machines, adding that technical colleges are 70 percent practicals oriented which will be an added advantage.
“It will be an opportunity for them to gain maximally from courses taught there instead of theoretical aspect of things. It will assist them in no small way to have better knowledge, because technical colleges have equipment for practicals.
“Also, right from the primary school, pupils should be well taught in handiwork, vocations,and food and nutrition, we must catch them young, this will assist them a lot in the secondary school before going to the higher institution. Problems of youth restiveness and social vices will be curbed.
“No country can survive without technical know-how. Countries like Japan, Germany, China, USA, among others, take technical education as priority, therefore, we should give our technical education the right perspective for the country to advance technologically”, she maintained.
Akinsete however commended the State Governor, Arakunrin Oluwarotimi Akeredolu for his support towards all the programmes of the board.
“I resumed here in December 2017,and most of the stipends of our facilitators and trainers were not paid, we wrote to the governor and he approved the payment for 2017/2018,and ever since then, everything has been going on smoothly. The trainers and the facilitators are more productive as it motivates them to do their job efficiently, ” she added.
While saying that even though she is a scientist, she used to believe that Technical colleges are for poor learners, but now, she has recognised that the role of technical education in the development of a country cannot be overlooked.
” When we talk about Psycomotor, I realise that students at Government Technical Colleges are more active.
There should be more emphasis on technical education, though government has been assisting us in that regard by giving grants to schools, ” she said.
The Secretary equally advised youths to take the advantage of the twenty four skills acquisition centres across the state and learn vocations free of charge, especially during the long vacation so as to be self sufficient.
