THE Senior Staff Association of Nigerian Polytechnics (SSANIP) has urged President Muhammadu Buhari to create a commission that will be for only polytechnic education in the country.
The national president of the association, Comrade Adebanjo Ogunsipe, made the call during the association’s 61st national executive council meeting held at the Federal Polytechnic Ado-Ekiti, Ekiti State.
The meeting had in attendance about 166 delegates across 71 polytechnics in the country.
Ogunsipe who said that the National Polytechnic Commission when created would help to improve polytechnic education in the country, noted that the National Board for Technical Education had been overwhelmed in its supervisory roles.
“The NBTE that is overseeing polytechnic education is trying its best, but instead of overseeing about 100 schools, the NBTE as we have it today is in charge of about 600 institutions.
“If the polytechnic is given a separate commission like the colleges of education and the universities, it will help the system to achieve more results in our education sector. We are calling on the Federal Government to see to this in order to save the polytechnic system,” he said.
He further called on the government to carry out comprehensive reform in polytechnic education, saying some institutions are still using the 1984 working scheme, which he said is obsolete.
While commending the contributions of SSANIP to polytechnic education in the country, the rector of the Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Dr Hephzibah Oladebeye, advised the association not to lose focus of its primary objectives.
He disclosed that the polytechnic under his leadership prioritised welfare of workers and students, adding that members of the non-teaching staff are indispensable stakeholders in the polytechnic system.