Experts in vocational education recently converged in Uyo, the Akwa Ibom state capital, for the 21st Annual International Conference of the Nigeria Vocational Association (NVA).At the occasion, the National President of the association, Prof. Patrick E. Egbule of the Department of Vocational Education/Agricultural Science Unit, Delta State University, Abraka, spoke to FRANCIS OGAR on the need to inculcate the right – mindset into Technical Vocational Education and Training.
What is the major theme of the conference?
Well, the theme of this year’s conference is “Re-Engineering Technical Vocational Education and Trading (TVET) Towards Capacity Building for Sustainable Development”.
You may ask what capacity building is. Nobody wants to learn professional education when it comes to skill acquisition. People need to learn better ways of doing things, specially the way educational revolution is happening in the world. Even our teachers who are professionals need to upgrade their knowledge so that they can equally assist those who are in need. So the conference today is going to talk about capacity building.
What do you see as the challenges facing vocational education in Nigeria?
Vocational Association of Nigeria is an umbrella body that brings about all Professionals in the area of Vocational Educational and Training in the country. We meet every year to brainstorm on how people can acquire different skills. One of the challenges facing Nigeria’s Educational Institutions today, is that their products are not saleable. What I mean is that they don’t possess the requisite skills that will enable them to create employment opportunities for themselves. Because of that we are looking for the ways in which we can solve the problems for them. We are skilled. We are talking of how to solve these problems.
Would you suggest that vocational education be incorporated into the Nigerian education system?
Yes. Vocational education is a very important discipline that should be integrated fully into the Nigerian education system because it is a reliable alternative source for making Nigeria less dependent on the government. The economy is becoming unpredictable and cannot provide employment opportunities for every citizen, but when the students acquire the needed skill, they can be self-employed and could help to employ others and assist the government by reducing the burden of un- employment.”
By the time individuals developed, the society will also develop, you can then be sure of sustainability of development. Hunger is the cause of crisis we are experiencing today. I know by the end of this conference, a communiqué will be issued and it will go a long way to highlight some of the issues that will assist in developing the people.
This topic will be discussed by eminent scholars, researchers and stakeholders with focus on enabling individuals and agencies to develop the critical, social and technical skills as well as capabilities to identify and analyze problems and proffer solutions to them. The centrality of TVET in a poor and skills- short economy such as Nigeria remains a burning issue. No nation has ever successfully pursued its developmental agenda in the face of accelerating unemployment rates and its associated waste of human resources.
The need to inculcate the right mindset into TVET graduates, the needed vocational/technical top-ups and for general upgrading of performance abilities should be on the top agenda of all vocational educators, government and stakeholders.
The re-building process of NVA into a formidable national/ international organization is on-going, through reformations and building synergy with government, non -governmental organizations and sister associations, both nationally and worldwide, for individual and national development.
Do you agree with the call for the restructuring of our educational curriculum?
No. I am not talking of educational curriculum. Educational curriculum means the review at intervals based on developments. You know Nigeria is developing. What we had 10years ago is not what we have now. So there is the need to review along with the development issues.
What kind of quality education should we expect in this country?
Quantity is an integral part of education. Quality is an important concept when you talk of education, quality of teacher, quality of students, and even quality of infrastructure. What the teachers do and quality of what they impact.There should be quality in the environment where they stay to learn. Quality is very important aspect of education and in fact an important aspect of the core mandate of Nigerian Vocational Association of Nigeria.
