Discriminating between varsity, polytechnic graduates

THAT there is discrimination between polytechnic graduates and university is now becoming more evident than ever.

Imagine someone who went to a polytechnic for his Higher National Diploma (HND) programme. He would spend the first two years obtaining the Ordinary National Diploma (OND).

He would proceed on a mandatory one-year industrial attachment programme before enrolling on the HND programme for another two years.

In all, the person will end up spending about five years in the polytechnic and it would be unfair if the only compensation he  gets from the society is rejection by potential employers on the basis that he is not a degree holder.

Strangely, some employers who attended polytechnics not only refuse to employ polytechnic graduates, but also make these set of Nigerians to feel inferior to their university counterparts.

Some polytechnic graduates manage to secure jobs, but their remuneration package is nothing to write home about.

I think it’s high time we told our youths to start developing their human resources and utilise them judiciously.

Everybody should be given the opportunity to prove his/her self-worth in any area of their choice, irrespective of whether they possess HND or B.Sc results.

The polytechnic graduate should be involved in  making policies for technical education.

Also, the standard of education in our polytechnics should be raised.

The entry requirements should be the same as those in our universities.

In case the above suggestions don’t work out, government should systematically convert our polytechnics into universities and remove unnecessary distinction.

Then, we will have less pressure on the current universities.

Boluwatife Akintomide

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