- Inadequate funding is major challenge
Authorities of monotechnics across the country have bemoaned the alleged neglect of the sector by the relevant government agencies and organisations.
The specialised institutions alleged that they have been denied some benefits, which their counterparts in the polytechnic sector have been enjoying from the government, educational bodies and other corporate organisations.
The rectors of some of the monotechnics said that lack of certain major resources by the specialised institutions had resulted in their inability to compete favourably and be at the same level with their counterparts like the polytechnics and universities.
The Rector of the Federal School of Statistics, Oyo, Dr. Kayode Balogun, lamented the paucity of funds available to the institution.
Balogun said that the problem of funding had made it impossible for the institution to purchase the equipment required to carry out the practical aspect of the courses offered by its students.
“The major challenge facing monotechnics is finance. We need some facilities to carry out the practical aspects of these courses and some of the machines, which are supposed to be in place, are not there. So, we are just teaching abstractly, instead of doing the practical aspect of what is in the content,” he said.
The rector also identified financial constraints facing the students of the institution as another challenge confronting the monotechnic.
According to him, most of the students find it difficult to cope with the payment of tuition fees after a year of gaining admission into the institution.
He said that some of the students were merely struggling to survive because of their poor family backgrounds, stressing that many of them found themselves studying in monotechnics having been frustrated in their unsuccessful search for admission into polytechnics and universities.
Balogun, however, added that the institution had trained and qualified personnel who teach the various courses at the national and higher national diploma levels, just like in the polytechnics.
“Students are exposed to more practical aspects of Statistics, which aid their learning process. The lecturers devote their time and allow the scholars to understand what the course is all about, and how they can actually practice the culture of statistics by keeping records and making it available when it is needed.”
“More so, the duration is the same with polytechnic, which is a space of two years for the National Diploma after which the student goes on a year Industrial Training. If the student is willing to study further, he can proceed with direct entry level at the university or continue in the monotechnic as Higher National Diploma certificate holder for another two years.
“The institution, being a prominent member of the National Statistical Association and under the aegis of the National Bureau of Statistics, still holds on to the admission requirements of secondary level and Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board results. Initially, it was not so, but we are now under the directives of the National Board for Technical Education, with the cut-off mark put at 150,” the rector said.
Speaking in the same vein, the Rector of the College of Maritime Transport Management and Technology, Lagos State, Dr. Alex Okwuashi, noted that the monotechnics lacked the financial wherewithal to shoulder the responsibilities of providing the necessary infrastructure and equipment for the adequate training of its products.
“The problem of monotechnics is infrastructure because there is lack of fund to put in place all the necessary facilities. If the money is there, the equipment, laboratory facilities will be available for the scholars. For instance, the equipment for material is worth about N45million, which the institution alone cannot afford,” Okwuashi said.
He observed that students would always prefer to opt for other alternatives like the polytechnics and universities, because of the wrong perception about monotechnics and similar institutions, even when universities in the country lacked the carrying capacity to admit all students.
The rector, however, explained that although the dichotomy between the monotechnics and other higher institutions had been removed by the Federal Government, “It would be good if all universities can incorporate monotechnics into each faculty or department.”He urged educational bodies and corporate organisations to support the monotechnic by not leaving only the government to shoulder the responsibility of providing funding for this sector.
Okwuashi also appealed for the provision of more qualified personnel and resource persons who will be put in charge of these disciplines.
But the Principal Officer, Federal College of Agriculture, Akure, Dr. Olanrewaju Onibon, claimed that dichotomy still existed among tertiary institutions in the country.
Onibon argued that although the issues of dichotomy and discrimination against graduates of monotechnics had been addressed on paper, in reality the problems were still haunting the products of the sector.
“It was regulated only on the paper, but it is still on when it comes to the placement of jobs. Preferential treatment is still given to graduates of universities, whereby their products are given higher job positions. For instance, in an engineering company, a university graduate can be allowed to head a unit while the monotechnic graduates are not; the latter are referred to as technicians, unlike their counterparts that are referred to as engineers,” he said.
According to him, both higher institutions were not being rated the same way and the graduates not given the same opportunity in the labour market.
“The polytechnic even enjoys money from Tertiary Education Trust Fund but the monotechnics have nothing to benefit from the fund. There is no educational fund given to us. The finance and acceptability of our products are the major challenges facing the institution,” Onibon said.
