Effective Technological Delivery in Nigerian
Polytechnics:
Need for Academic Manpower Development
Policy
J. K. Adeyemi
University of Benin (Nigeria)
E. E. Uko-Aviomoh
University of Benin (Nigeria)
Citation: Adeyemi, J.,
Uko-Aviomoh, E.,
(2004, June 8). Effective technological delivery in Nigerian
polytechnics: Need for academic manpower development
policy.
Education Policy
Analysis Archives, 12(24). Retrieved [Date] from
http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n24/.
Abstract
Technical education, especially as provided in the Nigerian
polytechnics, leads to the acquisition of practical and applied
skills as well as basic scientific knowledge. The production
function of the polytechnics in terms of producing quality
middle-level manpower through effective teaching delivery depends
largely on the quantity and quality of teachers available.
However, teacher adequacy is a function of many factors, which
include funding, student enrollment overtime, and staff turnover.
This article, however, revealed a mismatch between enrollment and
available teachers, with huge staff shortfall over the years when
the student enrollment was matched with the available teachers,
using the ideal teacher-student ratios. Student and teacher
projections were carried out based on five-percent annual increase
and average teacher-student ratio of 1:12, so as to meet the
vision 2010 target year set by the Nigerian government for
total development. The projection showed that the polytechnics
would require a large additional number of teachers. An
all-inclusive funding approach for the polytechnics was recommended
so as to increase their financial status, which would allow for
improved facilities, workshops, equipment and also improved
conditions of service of teachers. We believe that if
this was done, more teachers would be attracted from across the
world, those who left would return, and new and younger ones will be
encouraged to join the teaching force. Such development would to a
great extent meet and sustain the anticipated growth for the
target year. |
Introduction
Technical education is that aspect of education, which leads to
the acquisition of practical and applied skills as well as basic
scientific knowledge. Encyclopedia Britannica (2001) described it
as the academic and vocational preparation of students for jobs
involving applied science and modern technology. The general
objectives are the preparation of graduates for occupations that
are classed above the skilled craft but below the scientific or
engineering profession. The National Policy on Education (FRN
1981, 1998) identified five types of technical education
institutions outside the universities. They are pre-vocational and
vocational schools at post-primary levels; technical colleges,
polytechnics and colleges of technical teacher education at
post-secondary school.
In Nigeria, technical education had a slow start and developed
less quickly than other forms of education. In fact, the first
technical college was established in 1948 at Yaba, Lagos (Fafunwa,
1992). This was partly due to the fact that the Europeans, who
were the harbingers of western learning, were unable to popularize
it on the same scale as literary, religious and pedagogical form
of education when they colonized the sub-Sahara Africa, including
Nigeria. Batagarawa (2001), who was a minister of state for
education in Nigeria, however, adduced the low pace of technical
education in the country to the fact that it is expensive to
develop and sustain, partly because of its high resource
requirements.
Nevertheless, the importance of technical education and
technology to sustainable development cannot be overemphasized.
This is because tomorrow’s world will demand highly
qualified specialists and increasingly flexible generalists (World
Bank, 2000). No wonder the National Policy on Education believes
that technical education would provide the technical knowledge and
vocational skills necessary for agricultural, industrial,
commercial and economic development through the provision of well
trained sub-professional grade and middle-level manpower (NPE,
section 6, sub section 49). In fact, recognising that technical
education forms the basis of the nation’s technological
development, the Federal Government had substantially increased
its expenditure in this field in the Third National Development
Plan period (3rd National Development Plan, 1975
– 1980).
Consequent upon the earlier neglect of technical education and
sudden realization of this type of education by government as the
panacea for technological emancipation and national development,
the National Board for Technical Education was created in 1977
through decree number 9. The board is saddled with the
responsibility of coordinating technical education by setting standards for
schools in term of facilities, teaching manpower and accrediting
courses from time to time. It is also to advise government on all
aspects of technical education that fall outside the universities.
Nigerian government has finalized plan to establish the National
Polytechnics Commission to manage only the polytechnics (The
Guardian, Tue, 18/3/2003).
Ever since, there has been a phenomenal expansion in technical
institutions. From one technical college in 1948, the country now
has 46 polytechnics, with various programmes for both the
pre-National Diploma and Diploma students as of 1997/98 session.
In addition, there are 89 monotechnics, 8 colleges of Education
(Technical) for training teachers for post-primary technical and
vocational education programmes and 138 technical colleges (FOS
1999/2000, NBTE, 2000; Federal Ministry of Education, 2000,
Yakubu, 2000; and Aina 2000). Enrollment has also witnessed a
significant growth. For example, Polytechnic enrollment has risen
from 17,485 in 1986/87 to 104,686 in 1990/91 and to 192,979 in
1997/98 and 237775 in 1999/2000 (Joint Admission and Matriculation
Board, 2000, Adegbile, 2000). There is no gainsaying that
curriculum planning and physical expansion without adequate and
sustainable human and material resources would definitely fail to
produce the desired results. This brings us to the thrust of this
discourse, which are the teaching manpower requirements for
technical education, especially in the country’s
polytechnics.
Teachers play great facilitative role in teaching-learning
process. In spite of the advancement in science and technology,
the teacher is not yet displaced in the classroom nor has his
important role in education diminished (Aghenta, 1998). Even
Fredenco Mayo, Director-General of UNESCO emphasized the important
role of teachers in technical and vocational education programmes
at the second international congress in Seoul, South Korea (26
April, 1999). Similarly Tarpeh (1994) remarked that academic staff
are the mainstay of any institution and their number and quality
affect the efficiency of teaching and learning process. He
described them as a crucial input in the transformation of
students and research into graduates and knowledge and solutions
of societal problems.
Unfortunately, the situation with technical education teachers,
especially in terms of quantity is highly precarious in Nigeria.
In 1980, the Nigerian Educational Research Council (NERC) set an
indicative targets for teaching staff and student enrollment for
the nations polytechnics and technical colleges. The
council’s teaching staff target by 1997/98 was put at 66800,
with about 1.3 million student enrollment; and for 2000 AD,
teaching staff target was put at 72900, with about 1.4 million
student enrollment with teacher-student ratio of 1:20. (NERC,
1980). Unfortunately the targets were far from being met. As of
1997/98, actual teaching staff in the polytechnics and technical
colleges was 9370, student enrollment was 248080, given an average
teacher: student ratio of 1:27. According to NERC, “the
enormity of such a venture is without question, but we have no
choice in the matter if we must develop” (NERC, 1980:52).
The situation on the ground is, however, not promising.
Corroborating the situation, (Ogunnowo, 1992; Nwaokolo, 1997;
Olaitan, 1997; principals’ annual report for Federal
Technical Colleges, 1998; and Aina, 2000) all submitted that there
is problem of inadequate qualified teachers at almost all levels
and types of education in Nigeria. In fact the technical
colleges’ principals’ annual report stated in the
following words:
The picture of staffing depicts total weakness in all
trade areas… This low level teaching faculty cannot
formulate and deliver adequate skill training no matter the
pretensions to the contrary … the dearth of adequately
qualified teachers for the technical colleges is already a
national crisis.
The national policy on education seemed to have envisaged this
problem. It is stated in section 6, sub-section 5 that
“government is aware that only limited facilities exist
for technical teachers’ education” and that
“a conscious effort to expand the facilities for the
training of technical teachers shall be made, particularly since
the new structure … will require many more
teachers”. The extent to which this has been done is
part of the thrust of this paper.
In a survey on teacher supply-demand carried out by the
Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC) as
reported by Onugha (1997) revealed a high student: teacher ratios
in all the technical disciplines - a pointer to inadequate
teachers. Even the World education report by UNESCO (1995)
identified the sub-Sahara Africa of which Nigeria is a part, as
the worst in term of number of teachers available for the third
level education, where we have the polytechnics. The report showed
that in 1992, of the 5.19 million teachers available, the region
shared 0.09 million; while Arab states, 0.14 million; Latin
America/Caribbean, 0.67 million; Eastern Asia/Oceanic 0.77
million; China, 0.39 million; Southern Asia, 0.53 million; India,
0.42 million and so on. Not to mention the developed
countries.
Many problems have be-deviled the educational system in recent
past. The problem of under-funding has alone inhibited the
development of teaching manpower programmes. According to Aina
(2000), in the past, technical teachers were trained abroad, but
this has ceased due to the fallen value of the country’s
currency and dwindling economy. There is problem of brain drain
too, either to foreign countries to seek greener pastures or to
lucrative industries within the country (NUC, 1995; and Adeyemi
2000). Sofolahan (1991) had expressed concern that many of the
technical teachers sent abroad never returned, and those that
returned found their ways into industrial and commercial sectors,
in spite of the bond signed with government.
This portends a looming crisis that could definitely affect the
quality of middle level manpower produced in the technical
institutions, especially in the polytechnics, and consequently the
nation’s technological development. This paper is therefore
premised on the contention that there is disequilibrum in the
demand-supply of technical education teachers. Therefore the article analyzed the degree
and pattern of the dis-equilibrum; projected for future needs; and
also made useful suggestions; making the nations polytechnics as
reference point.
Teacher demand-supply mix for technical education
It is recognized that with the best of educational policy and
design, and even high fiscal input to education, the ultimate
achievement of educational objectives depend largely on the
quantity and quality of teachers. The quality and quantity of
graduates produced would also reflect the worth of the available
teachers. Therefore to determine the demand-supply gap in the
production and allocation of teachers to any institution, student
enrollment trend must be ascertained. This is necessary for
reasonable projection for future development.
For this paper, teacher demand connotes the ideal number of
teachers required for the polytechnics. On the other hand, supply
connotes the actual number of teachers available during the years
of study. Two planning models are very relevant to this discourse.
They are: Higbee’s demand models (Higbee, 1981) and the
Cobb-Douglas production function models used by Manga and Silver
(1983). The Cobb-Douglas production function model suggested that
in order to obtain an equilibrium state in any production system,
the growth in output can be increased only by increasing either
the number of its productive workforce or their powers. In the
school system, to establish equilibrium, growth in student
enrollment must be accompanied by a proportionate growth in staff
strength (Osahon, 1997). This is because according to Zymelman
(1993) and World Bank (1995), disequilibrium in the
enrollment-staffing relationship weakens the efficacy and quality
of the school system’s production functions.
On the other hand, Higbee (1981) in his demand models for
academic staff planning identified some form of formula for
determining the number of academic staff required by an academic
unit-college, faculty, school, department, etc. He divided these
into two types: student/faculty ratios and work load formula. The
student faculty/college ratios is adapted for this paper in
determining the academic staff need of the nation’s
polytechnics. It consists of either simple ratio or more
sophisticated ones containing weighting co-efficient for various
types of students. This is simplified inform of student:teacher
ratio as prescribed by World Bank (1995), which described the
model as one overall measure of staff efficiency in schools.
By this model, there are ideal (demand) and actual (supply)
ratios. Where the actual ratio is found to be greater than the
approved ratio, which is statutorily recommended in most cases
implies over-utilization of academic staff, vise versa, with
attendant consequences on production function.
According to National Board for Technical Education (NBTE)
(1981), the following teacher: student ratios are recommended:
- for practice-oriented trade courses, such as woodwork,
metalwork, electronics etc., the ideal ratio is 1:15 and 1:20 as
the upper limit;
- for practice-oriented core courses in the general science
department such as Biology, Chemistry, Physics, the lower limit of
teacher: student ratio of 1:18 and upper limit of 1:25.
- For other courses in the general education department in which
classes are held in classrooms, the normative teachers: student
ratio of 1:40 is recommended.
The above is, however, for technical colleges. For the
Monotechnics and Polytechnics, the ratios recommended are:
- 1:8 for technological-based disciplines and
- 1:16 for management and art disciplines: This gives a 1:12
average ratio.
Today, there is a phenomenal rise in student enrollment at all
levels of education, which (Omoregie and Hartnett, 1995; UNESCO,
2000) observed could not be matched by the growth in the number of
teachers.
Table 1 shows the trend in student enrollment and teaching staff
between 1993/94 and 1999/2000 sessions. The table reveals that the
annual average percentage growth of 10.75 for student enrollment is
higher than that of teaching staff, which is 7.3%. This is an
indication of academic mismatch (Osahon, 1997).
Table 1. Trend in student enrollment and
teaching staff in Nigerian Polytechnics:1993- 2000
| Year |
Enrollment |
% Growth |
Teaching staff |
% Growth |
Overall Teacher:student
ratio |
| 1993/94 |
124000 |
- |
4960 |
- |
1:25 |
| 1994/95 |
151247 |
21.9 |
5258 |
6.0 |
1:29 |
| 1995/96 |
150391 |
-0.7 |
5371 |
2.2 |
1:28 |
| 1996/97 |
178456 |
18.7 |
609 |
13.7 |
1:29 |
| 1997/98 |
192699 |
8.1 |
6483 |
6.1 |
1:30 |
| 1998/99 |
216159 |
12.0 |
6755 |
4.2 |
1:32 |
| 1999/2000 |
233612 |
8.00 |
7536 |
11.6 |
1:31 |
| Average |
|
10.75 |
|
7.3 |
|
Source:
- Federal Office of Statistics (1995, 1999, 2000)
Annual Abstract of statistics, Abuja, FOS.
- Federal Ministry of Education (2000) Statistics on Student
Enrollment in Technical Colleges, Colleges of Education,
Monotechnics and Polytechnics, Abuja, FME
- National Board For Technical Education (1999) Digest of
Statistics, Kaduna, NBTE.
- Yakubu, N.A. (2000) “Identification and Assessment of
Resource Requirements in Technical and Vocational Education in
Nigeria” A Seminar paper.
Table 2 compares the ideal teacher: student ratios as
recommended by the National Board for Technical Education for the
science/technological-based and Management/Art-based courses
(NBTE, 1981); The table shows a general wide gap between the
recommended and actual ratios in most of the courses. The gap is
phenomenal with the management courses, such as
Accountancy/Financial studies, Business Administration/Management;
Banking and Finance and Insurance. Their ratios range between 1:33
for Insurance to as high as 1:119 for Accountancy/Financial
studies as against the recommended ratio of 1:16. This implies a
very high enrollment that is not matched with the required teaching
staff. The implications of such development could be inimical to
effective teaching-learning process. The same goes for some
technologically based disciplines, such as Chemical Engineering,
Mining Engineering, Electrical/Electronics with average of about 1:28 teacher:
student ratio. The pattern of observed ratios in most disciplines
suggested an over-utilization of teachers in the polytechnics. No
wonder, the academic union of the nation’s polytechnics,
like their university counterparts have demanded for the payment
of excess workload allowance, which they are now earning. But the
question is can one teacher perform the duty of two teachers
effectively? This paper does not believe that there could be
effective delivery.
Another problem traceable to high ratios observed for the
management disciplines is the trend in the country today, whereby
most applicants to polytechnics and even universities tend to
prefer management disciplines so as to eventually work in banks,
insurance companies, finance houses, oil companies, etc. which pay
better than most other sectors. These institutions in most cases
admit the students irrespective of the rules guiding admission and
even the available resources, especially teachers. For instance,
Adeyemi (2001) found that there was no Nigerian university that
was complying with the 60:40 admission ratio for
science/technology and Art/Social Sciences/Humanities as
recommended by the National Policy on Education (FGN, 1998). The
ratio is 70:30 for the Polytechnics (FGN, 1998). The problem of
compliance with the admission could be attributed to the low level
of interest the post-primary students show for the science and
technical education. This seemingly low interest can also be
attributed to many factors, such as inadequate science materials,
poor laboratories, and inadequate and dysfunctional workshops.
Such situation could have contributed to the tendency for most
Nigerian school leavers to prefer management courses, social
sciences and humanities.
Table 2. Teacher: student ratios by selected
discipline for Nigeria Polytechnics
|
Discipline
|
(Ideal)
Recommended
NBTE ratios
|
Actual ratios
|
| ’93/94 |
‘94/95 |
‘95/96 |
‘96/97 |
‘97/98 |
‘98/99 |
‘99/2000 |
| Accounting/Financial studies |
1:16 |
1:114 |
1:111 |
1:112 |
1:116 |
1:118 |
1:120 |
1:119 |
| Agricultural Engineering |
1:8 |
1:9 |
1:9 |
1:10 |
1:9 |
1:10 |
1:11 |
1:11 |
| Architecture |
:8 |
:13 |
:12 |
:14 |
:14 |
:16 |
.:15 |
.17 |
| Business Admin. /Management |
1:16 |
1:67 |
1:73 |
1:78 |
1:51 |
1:83 |
1:80 |
1:81 |
| Building Tech./Quantity surveying |
1:8 |
1:12 |
1:12 |
1:13 |
1:75 |
1:17 |
1:17 |
1:16 |
| Chemical Engineering |
1:18 |
1:30 |
1:28 |
1:25 |
1:31 |
1:34 |
1:32 |
1:33 |
| Catering/Hotel Management |
1:16 |
1:19 |
1:21 |
1:23 |
1:23 |
1:25 |
1:25 |
1:26 |
| Civil Engineering |
:8 |
:10 |
:10 |
:9 |
:11 |
:12 |
:10 |
:11 |
| Education (Technical) |
1:16 |
1:38 |
1:36 |
1:36 |
1:39 |
1:43 |
1:43 |
1:44 |
| Electrical/Electronics Engineering |
1:8 |
1:20 |
1;25 |
1:24 |
1:28 |
1:32 |
1:32 |
1:31 |
| Environmental Science |
1:8 |
1:14 |
1:15 |
1:13 |
1:15 |
1:17. |
1:17 |
1:18 |
| Food Technology |
:8 |
:26 |
:25 |
:25 |
:29 |
:34 |
:31 |
:33 |
| Mass Communication |
1:16 |
1:28 |
1:28 |
1:30 |
1:31 |
1:33 |
1:33 |
1:32 |
| Marketing/Purchasing and Supply |
1:16 |
1:23 |
1:27 |
1:29 |
1:31 |
1:31 |
1:30 |
1:31 |
| Mining Engineering |
1:8 |
1:31 |
1:35 |
1:37 |
1:40 |
1:41 |
1:41 |
1:42 |
| Computer Science/Maths, Statistics |
1:8 |
1:16 |
1:18 |
1:18 |
1:21 |
1:21 |
1:21 |
1:23 |
| Printing Technology |
1:8 |
1:4 |
1:4 |
1:3 |
1:5 |
1:3 |
1:4 |
1:4 |
| Secretarial Studies |
:8 |
:23 |
:25 |
:25 |
:30 |
:32 |
:32 |
:32 |
| Social Development/Cooperatives |
1:16 |
1:13 |
1:14 |
1:15 |
1:15 |
1:14 |
1:15 |
1:15 |
| Textile Technology/Polymer Sc. |
1:8 |
1:5 |
1:3 |
1:5 |
1:4 |
1.4 |
1:4. |
1:5 |
| Urban Planning |
1:16 |
1:20 |
1:21 |
1:20 |
1:22 |
1:26 |
1:25 |
1:26 |
| Banking & Finance |
1:16 |
1:81 |
1.85 |
1:88 |
1:91 |
1:93 |
1:95 |
1:94 |
| Arts & Design |
1:16 |
1:4 |
1:4 |
1:5 |
1:6 |
1:6 |
1:6 |
1:7 |
| Insurance |
1:16 |
1:35 |
1:33 |
1:33 |
1:38 |
1:42 |
1:42 |
1:45 |
| Music Technology |
1:16 |
1:17 |
1:19 |
1:19 |
1:20 |
1:20 |
1:20 |
1:22 |
Sources:
- Federal Office of Statistics (1995, 1999, 2000) Annual
abstract of statistics, Abuja, Nigeria.
- Olu Aina (Ed) (2000) “Technical and Vocational Education
in Nigeria: Vision and mission, seminar proceedings, Abuja, 50
– 53.
- National Board for Technical Education (1990 – 2000)
Digest of statistics, Kaduna, NBTE
However, table 2 also shows that few courses have very low
ratios, thereby giving room to under-utilization of teachers. They
include Textile technology, Arts & Design and Printing
technology with ratios that are far less than the recommended
ones.
The calculated ratios in table 2 reveal a high shortfall in the
stock of the teaching staff available to the polytechnics for the
years under review. This shortfall is shown in table 3, based on
the average teacher: student ratio of 1:12.
Table 3. Student enrollment, actual and ideal
teaching staff difference
| Year |
Student enrollment |
Actual teaching staff |
Ideal teaching staff based on average
teacher:student ratio of 1:12 |
Ideal/Actual difference (shortfall) |
| 1993/94 |
124000 |
4960 |
10333 |
5373 |
| 1994/95 |
151247 |
5258 |
12604 |
7346 |
| 1995/96 |
150391 |
5371 |
12533 |
7162 |
| 1996/97 |
178456 |
6109 |
14871 |
8762 |
| 1997/98 |
192699 |
6483 |
16058 |
9575 |
| 1998/99 |
216159 |
6755 |
18013 |
11258 |
| 1999/2000 |
233612 |
7536 |
19468 |
11932 |
- Calculated by the authors from Table 2.
Table 3 shows a huge shortfall for the years, ranging from 5373
teachers for 1993/94 to 11932 teachers for 1999/2000. In all the
years, the shortfall is higher than the actual. This observation
should be a serious concern to educational managers.
Causes of shortage of technical teachers
The adequacy of teaching staff to any level of education is
strategic to the quality of instructional delivery. And in Nigeria
the above data analysis has shown a drastic downward trend in
respect to adequacy of polytechnic teachers. A lot of factors can
be adduced. These include the admission explosion, under-funding
of higher education and technical education in particular;
dwindling national economy; issue of brain-drain and perception of
technical education disciplines as tough.
The urge for admission into higher education in the country has
phenomenally increased enrollment. Most institutions do not respect
the admission guidelines and quotas. The income to be generated
from certain fees paid seems to be over-riding the sense of
judgement. This has led to situations where enrollment far
outstrips the available resources, including teachers. It takes a
long time to produce teacher for this level of education.
Secondly, the downturn in the nation’s economy has been
identified as the major cause of all educational problems for the
past one and half decades. Ten years ago, the country could only
allocate about 1.4% of her GNP to education; while countries like
Ghana, Zimbabwe and Malaysia allocated 4%, 8.5% and 7.1%
respectively of their GNP to education. (Daily Times, 2-12-93).
The situation still remains the same as of 2003. The country could
only allocate 1.8% of the 2003 budget to education (Academic Staff
Union of Universities, 2003). This is why the union has been on
strike to protest this near neglect of education by successive
governments. The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics has equally
expressed its displeasure. The low allocation has seemingly
affected all aspects of education in general and technical
education in particular.
The poor allocation has led to under-funding of the
polytechnics and other institutions. Facilities have degenerated
and teaching equipment to the dissatisfaction of teaching staff.
In addition the condition of service became unattractive to
newcomers and repulsive to serving teachers. All these either
discouraged brilliant young scholars from taking up teaching job
or led to the “brain-drain” syndrome. Many teachers
are either leaving the polytechnics for greener pasture outside
the country or even lucrative industries that require in large
number the skill and services of technological-oriented scholars
within the country. In a study conducted on the phenomenon of
brain-drain in two polytechnics in Nigeria by Giwa (2000), it was
revealed that withdrawal/transfer of service and resignation of
teaching staff were tested to be significant and that their
directions were mainly to cross to universities, manufacturing
industries, while some went on private business. Describing the
pathetic picture of Nigeria’s higher education, polytechnics
inclusive, Yesufu (1996) as cited in Opatola (2001:2002)
stated:
“…the student: teacher ratios are
worsening in virtually all disciplines. Laboratories are either
non-existence or completely demanded of essential equipment and
experimental consumables, libraries cry out for funding. Teachers
are grossly underpaid and many have had to seek how to keep body
and soul together. Many others have abandoned academics to the
greener pastures of the private industry, the banks, and
consultancies. Part-time jobs and moonlighting have become the
rule than exception.”
Today, teachers in the tertiary institutions are moving out
en-mass to join politics, which has been made so lucrative in the
country.
The implications of under-funding on teaching staff turnover
portend danger to the future of technical education in general and
polytechnics in particular. The technological take-off of the
country could be in disarray. The high rate of staff attrition is
not good for quality assurance in the polytechnics. More
experienced teachers are leaving, while brilliant young graduates
are not encouraged by the situation. At the same time, less
qualified people are being recruited to fill the gap. In this
case, the delivery system of quality technological education would
definitely be in jeopardy. Onokherhoraye and Nwoye (1995)
corroborated this as they asserted that the attrition of quality
and experienced academic staff could result in poor standard.
Another probable cause of shortage of teaching staff in the
nation’s polytechnics could be attributed to the general
notion that science and technological disciplines are tough to
pursue right from secondary schools, not to mention of pursuing
them to post-graduate level that could qualify one to be a teacher
at this level. In addition, it is not an easy task to pursue
post-graduate programs in Nigerian universities nowadays because
of the poor state of laboratories and workshops. At the same time
the poor state of the nation’s economy has affected overseas
sponsorships.
Projecting for future teaching staff requirement for the
polytechnics
From the above analysis, the dearth of technical teachers in
the polytechnics seems to have reached a crisis proportion judging
from the huge figures representing the shortfall for various
years. The analysis also showed a steady yearly increase in
student enrollment, which ceteris paribus is likely
to continue. And bearing in mind the place of technical
education in the transformation of a nation, it is important to
project into the future needs of this type of education. For
instance, the “vision 2010 plan
document” that was prepared in 1997 by the Federal
Government is aimed at putting the country on the path of radical
future development. Its scope covers all sectors, including
technological and educational sectors. On education, the document
is mainly on students, increased funding and adequate teachers
(FGN, 1997).
Based on the nation’s vision, the paper projected the
yearly additional teachers that would be required in the
nation’s polytechnics from 2000/2001 to 2009/2010. To
achieve this, student enrollment during this period was first
projected, using UNESCO (1969) formula, as used by Osahon (1997)
and Adeyemi (2001). The formula, states:
Pn =
Po (1 + r),
Where,
Pn = Enrollment in year n,
Po =
Enrollment in year proceeding n
r =
Annual rate of growth
For the higher education, r is held constant at 5%
(Onokerhoraye and Nwoye, 1995:118). To project the number of
additional teachers required for the period, the average
teacher:student ratio of 1:12 recommended by the NBTE was used and
held constant. The finding is shown in Table 4.
In Table 3, it is shown that the actual teaching staff as of
1999/2000 was 7536, while the ideal teaching staff was 19468,
given a shortfall of 11932. From this situation, one can easily
predict a very gloomy future with regard to teaching manpower in
the nation’s polytechnics and technological education in
general if radical and aggressive approaches are not employed. The
problems entail coping and filling the shortfall before dealing
with the additional projected figure. As shown in table 4, to
achieve optimal efficiency and effectiveness of technical
education delivery in our polytechnics, it would require 31711
teachers for 380532 students by the target year, all things being
equal, with average annual additional teachers required. This
implies that an additional 12243 teachers plus the stock of 19468
in the base year (1999/2000) will be required for year 2010, which
is the target year.
Table 4. Student enrollment and teaching staff
projection for Nigerian Polytechnics: 2000/01 to 2009/10
| Year |
Student Enrollment
(Projection) |
Ideal Teaching Staff
(Projection) |
Additional Teaching Staff
required annually. |
| 1999/2000 |
233612 |
19468 |
- (Po) |
| 2000/2001 |
245293 |
20441 |
973 |
| 2001/2002 |
257558 |
21463 |
1022 |
| 2002/2003 |
270436 |
22536 |
1073 |
| 2003/2004 |
283958 |
23663 |
1127 |
| 2004/2005 |
298156 |
24846 |
1243 |
| 2005/2006 |
313064 |
26089 |
1243 |
| 2006/2007 |
328717 |
27393 |
1304 |
| 2007/2008 |
345153 |
28763 |
1370 |
| 2008/2009 |
362411 |
30201 |
1438 |
| 2009/2010 |
380532 |
31711 |
1510 |
| |
|
Average |
1224 |
Conclusion and recommendations
Human resource has been the hub on which other resources in any
organization revolve. In any school system, especially the
polytechnics, which are centres for technical and technological
education, the place of teaching manpower is very crucial in
qualitative and quantitative production of middle-level manpower
for the development of the nation. Incidentally, the country rests
her hope on technology as a pad for developmental take-off.
Unfortunately, one can conclude from the foregoing analysis that
there is an overall gross inadequacy of teachers in the
nation’s polytechnics. This situation cannot be, however,
divorced from the downturn in the nation’s economy that has
lowered financial allocation to education sector; especially
technical education, thereby affected the training and re-training
of teaching staff in all the polytechnics, both within and outside
the country. This situation has created a high teacher:student
ratios across most discipline, which could seriously jeopardize
the effectiveness of technical education delivery, especially in
the nearest future if urgent solution is not proffered.
It is therefore recommended that an all inclusive funding
arrangement be made to solve the problem of under-funding of the
polytechnics; since it seems that government allocation alone
could no longer cope with the running of the polytechnic
education. Reasonable school fees should be charged to augment
government allocation. Private and public companies should be made
to contribute certain percentage of their annual profit after tax
to technical education in general, and polytechnics in particular
because they are the primary beneficiaries of their products. In
addition, government should increase its allocation to the
polytechnics. With increased funding, the conditions of service of
the teachers can be adequately improved and the teaching
facilities, especially the workshops, equipment and laboratories
would be well developed and modernized. Such development could
attract teachers from other countries and those that have left the
system. It will also encourage many brilliant young scholars to
join the teaching staff, as well as retaining the ones on the
ground. By this, the shortfall in the teaching staff of the
polytechnics could be greatly reduced, while the hope of meeting
the target for the first ten years of this century could be
brightened.
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About the Authors
Dr. J. K. Adeyemi
Dept. of Educational Administration & Foundations
University of Benin
Benin City, Nigeria
E-mail: adeyemi@uniben.edu
Adeyemi is an Associate Professor in Educational Planning. He
has published widely in reputable journals.
Dr. (Mrs) E. E. Uko-Aviomoh
Dept. of Vocational and Technical Education
University of Benin
Benin City, Nigeria
Uko-Aviomoh is a Senior Lecturer in Vocational-Technical
Education. She has written many journal articles in her field.
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