The Federal Government has expressed concern over the proliferation of skills training and qualifications institutions in the country, saying some produce quacks.
Minister of State for Education, Mr Chukwuemeka Nwajiuba, who stated this on Thursday, during the National Business and Technical Examination Board (NABTEB) virtual annual skills exhibition and roundtable discussion on skills assessment held in Benin City, called for quality assessment of skills in the nation.
This is as the NABTEB Registrar/Chief Executive, Prof Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe, said the discussion was organised to sensitise skill training institutions on the best practices of training and assessment, especially in relation to Modular Trade-in and National Skills Qualification award.
Nwajiuba said the event was aimed at quality assessment of skills, as the ministry was concerned with “proliferation of skills training and qualification produced quacks as products of Technical Vocational Education and Training, TVET.”
He observed that the quality of TVET remained the bedrock of sustainable technological and social-economic development of any nation, and stressed that the Federal Government placed a high premium on quality education delivery.
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The minister said in recognition of skills qualification, the ministry collaborated with relevant government functionaries and partners to develop the Nigeria Skills Qualification FrameWork (NSOF) that was approved in 2018.
He pointed out that the roundtable would chart a new course in the implementation of skills assessment and improve the quality of certification of skills for better development of the nation.
In his welcome address, the Registrar/Chief Executive of NABTEB said: “to ensure that quality of training is acquired by trainees in various skills training Institutions, requires the use of valid and credible assessment measures which is currently not the case in some centres.”
She stressed the need for the nation to increase the population of skilled persons in order to reduce poverty and fast-track development.
“To achieve this, massive training and certification of skill are recommended and that skills training institution should adopt valid and reliable internal assessment strategies that incorporate relevant performance assessment procedure to boost production of certified manpower.”
The NABTEB boss said: “The training of adequate number of Quality Assurance Assessors (QAAs), internal Verifiers (IVs) and External Verifiers (EVs) needed to be facilitated to ensure effective delivery of the Nigerian Skills Qualification, NSQ.
FG expresses worry over proliferation of skills training institutions
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