Reps okays compulsory vocational studies in secondary school

The House of Representatives passed a bill to make vocational studies a mandatory subject in high schools for the second time on Wednesday.

The bill, supported by Joseph Bello, a lawmaker from Kogi State’s Adavi/Okehi Federal Constituency, is titled “A Bill for an Act to Provide for the Compulsory Teaching of Vocational Studies in Secondary School Syllabi in Nigeria.”

A summary of the proposal read, “The bill intends to make the development and teaching of vocational subjects compulsory for all secondary schools, whether public or private, failure of which attracts penalty as provided in Sections 1 and 2 of the bill.
 
“Make it mandatory for every secondary school graduate to have at a Credit pass in at least one vocational subject as prerequisite for further studies in higher institutions in Nigeria as provided for Section 1(2) of the bill.”

Bello, who led debate on the bill at its second reading on Wednesday, said that the rising rate of unemployment, especially among the teeming young population, has been “alarming and worrying” over the years.

The lawmaker cited data from the National Bureau of Statistics for the Second Quarter of 2020, which revealed that about 21.7 million Nigerians are unemployed, with 13.9 million of them – “more than the population of Rwanda and many other African countries” – being youths between the ages of 18 and 30.

“Unfortunately, these statistics are predicted to grow even worse, as the frightening state of insecurity, dwindling oil prices and dire consequences of COVID-19 pandemic, continue to take toll on our economy,”

Considering that our educational system, which analysts claim is structured to produce graduates for white-collar jobs rather than becoming entrepreneurs and employers of labor, is one of the most frequently cited reasons for the country’s high rate of youth unemployment, Unfortunately, this has resulted in unabated poverty, which has fueled widespread insecurity across the world, including insurgency, abduction, robbery, and other violent crimes. This is because the devil’s workshop is an idle mind.

“The above dire situation, therefore, requires that parliament should urgently come up with legislative instruments that will fine tune our educational system and this is what the bill before this hallowed chamber is about.
 
“This bill, in essence, seeks to mainstream the study of vocational subjects such as woodworks, tailoring, catering, photography, videography, business studies, printing and stenography, farming and agriculture, automobile, ICT, electrical/electronic works, just to mention a few, into our core educational system right from 155 to $55 level, in such ways as to transform all our secondary schools into ‘skill acquisition centres’ and by so doing we will be ‘catching them young.’

In other words, it is preparing our young people for jobs by providing them with the right mentality as well as job-specific and employability skills that will bind them with the business community, whether as employees or as entrepreneurs and small business owners.”

Meanwhile, the House is debating a bill that would establish a commission to oversee the National Board for Technical Education’s duties and activities.

The NBTE, which is part of the Federal Ministry of Education, supervises, governs, monitors, and accredits technical institutions’ secondary, polytechnic, and monotechnic courses and educational programs.

The National Commission for Polytechnic (Establishment) Bill 2021, according to its sponsor, Saudi Abdullahi, who represents Niger State’s Bida/Gbako/Katcha Federal Constituency, will resolve some of the demands made by lecturers under the umbrella of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics, who have been on strike.

The National Commission for Polytechnic (Establishment) Bill 2021, according to its sponsor, Saudi Abdullahi, who represents Niger State’s Bida/Gbako/Katcha Federal Constituency, will resolve some of the demands of lecturers who have been on strike under the umbrella of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics.

“It is to act as the central agency for channelling financial contributions emanating from government or other bodies to the said institutions, and for the development in collaboration with the ministries and organisations having technical programmes, of the system of national Certificate for Technology and other skilled personnel.”

The National Commission for Polytechnics “shall take precedence over the provisions of the National Board for Technical Education Act as it relates to polytechnics and colleges of technology,” according to the bill.

The proposed NCP would have a governing board that includes a chairman appointed by the President, as well as representatives from the Federal Ministry of Education, the Federal Ministry of Labour, Jobs and Productivity, the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, the Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, polytechnics, colleges of technology, and states of the Federation, in rotation; the Industrial Training Fund; and the National Agricultural Research and Development Council.

Six individuals, one from each of the country’s six geopolitical zones, will be appointed on an individual merit basis to represent each of the country’s six geopolitical zones. They must have extensive experience in public or private sector services, and at least one of the six must be a woman.