HND/Degree: Fresh controversy over old disparity




The dichotomy between polytechnic graduates and their university counterparts is a very old one, but the question on the lips of many is: when will it all end? Weekly Trust reports

Recently, the Minister of Education Professor Ruqayyatu Ahmed Rufai told journalists that no formal document has been presented by Federal Government to bring the Higher National Diploma and degree qualifications at par, despite public outcry against the existing dichotomy between the two holders for several years.
The venue and the time of the minister’s disclosure were instructive because it was during a meeting with members of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) in Abuja. She informed that at several forums where the issue was verbally raised by the Federal Ministry of Education, the feedback was that it was a decision taken by the National Council on Establishments (NCE).
Rufa’i said the NCE, which is a body of all Heads of Service of the Federation, would have to sit and rectify the decision but a memo was yet to be formally presented to the council. “The best thing is to initiate a memo that can be represented before the national council; and I believe that by the time a case can be made I don’t see why there should be dichotomy,” said the minister, adding that she did not support the discrimination.
In essence, what the minister said has reopened the debate about the old dichotomy which sees polytechnic graduates not rising beyond certain level in the civil service and other government agencies as well as private institutions. For instance, in its recruitment, the Nigeria Customs Service (NSC) treats HND and degree holders separately. While polytechnic graduates are enlisted into the service on Grade Level GL 7, their university counterparts are taken on an entry point of GL 8. And while insiders say HND holders hardly go beyond level 14 in the Customs, degree holders can rise to level 17 and even become Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service.
Executive Secretary of the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), Kaduna, Dr. Masa’udu Adamu Kazaure told Weekly Trust in a telephone interview that the dichotomy between the polytechnic and university graduates has not been removed.
“At the moment the situation is still the way it was. The dichotomy is there, but we are approaching it through various angles. The Federal Government during former President Olusegun Obasanjo’s tenure approved the removal of the dichotomy but the National Council of establishment is yet to look at it,” he said.
At the NBTE, the regulatory body of polytechnics in the country, he said they are addressing the dichotomy by working hard to make polytechnics to be awarding Bachelor of Technology (B. Tech) as done abroad.
He said they are also pushing for the implementation of new scheme of service for the polytechnic sector.
“We have done a lot. You know when a polytechnic graduate is employed in polytechnic, that person is called instructor but when a university graduate is employed in the polytechnic the person is employed as a lecturer. We will change it soonest,” he added.
Controversy trailed the comments once made by the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation Stephen Oronsaye to the effect that the Higher National Diploma (HND) is not equivalent to a university degree.
Oronsaye, who was answering questions in Abuja at the time, said “it is not the same curriculum; that is the truth.”
He said then that the Federal Ministry of Education was currently working on a scheme to enable HND graduates to spend an additional year to obtain “something that will be equivalent to B.Sc or B.Ed.”

“Let me also say this to you, that there is a body, the National Council on Establishments where this thing was tabled. And unanimously, all of them said it cannot be equal; and that is the highest body to take this decision.”
However, the Head of Service, who said he knew of a white paper mandating the equation of both qualifications, advised HND holders to “better themselves”.
“I know that the Federal Ministry of Education is already doing something through the NUC.
“The holders of the HND or OND should actually avail themselves of that opportunity to better themselves so that they can aspire to get to grade level 17.
“I am not one of those who will shy away from saying it the way it is,” Oronsaye said.
Michael Alli, a PhD student, seemed to agree with Oronsaye. He said degree holders should not be placed on the same pedestal with polytechnic graduates, because the two are not the same. “You cannot compare the quality of the lecturers in the university with those in the polytechnic. This is so for reasons that are obvious. One of these reasons is that many lecturers in the polytechnics are either HND holders or first degree holders unlike in the universities where most of the lecturers are Ph.D degree holders and professors.”
He said he has no idea when the disparity between polytechnic and university graduates will end. “But I will say that it is imperative for the government to liberate access to education with better funding. The society should stop the discrimination and encourage everyone to contribute his best just as everyone should be accommodated fairly in the national economy.
For Saidu Yakubu, a polytechnic graduate who said he went and did his masters degree to get himself out of the discrimination, blamed the government for not being sincere in ending the dichotomy. “It may interest you to know that despite all the hues and cries, there is not even a memo to that effect, and this much was disclosed by the Education Minister.
“However, one thing that I will want to say is that it does not make sense for polytechnic graduates to be confined to certain limits when secondary school certificate holders are allowed to become the president, the number one job in the country. Merit should determine how far one can go not only in the civil service but in life generally. This is because there are competent polytechnic graduates just as there are incompetent university graduates. We should give people a chance because of what they can do, not the certificates they hold.”
Another graduate of polytechnic Fateema B. Bello also said at several occasions, the Federal Government has talked about ending the dichotomy which, for now, favours university graduates ahead of their polytechnic counterparts.
She also said that leadership of National Association of Technologists in Engineering (NATE) through its National President of NATE Dr. Leo Okereke has severally appealed to the Federal Government to release the white paper on the Ernest Shonekan panel on the disparity between Higher National Diploma (HND) and university degree, but nothing has been done.
Weekly Trust reports that NATE said 11 years is more than enough time for a circular to be issued in the civil service and went ahead to urge President Goodluck Jonathan to demonstrate the political will to release the long awaited circular.
Even before the appeal by the NATE leadership, Niger State Governor Mu’azu Babangida Aliyu once called for the removal of discrimination between holders of university degrees and the holders of the Higher National Diplomas in job placement and rating.
“Many stakeholders have also expressed concern over the treatment meted out to graduates of polytechnic, especially in the federal civil service. Today, in many government institutions, products of polytechnics hardly go beyond level 14 just as many of them are being systematically frustrated out of the service when their juniors are promoted above them, even though HND holders have continuously proved their mettle,” she said.
She urged the federal government and even private companies to stop discriminating against polytechnic graduates, which she said is creating unnecessary animosity between HND and degree holders.... source (Dailytrust of 20th April, 2013)

This is one area gej should look into,(but not by setting up committee upon committees) the discrimination is something else, it looks like racism. what matters most is what the student has to offer in their various places of work. There are many good polytechnic graduates out there, The fact that they could not get admission into universities should not make employers of labour have a negative perception towards them.

We are going to challenge this nonsense

As long as polytechnic lecturers continue to answer 'Mr' or 'Mrs', the dichotomy must continue

Is it the tittle that matters? Mr. Stephen Oronsaye, the former Head of the Civil Service of the Federation, sparked off this debate over the over-flogged superiority battle between holders of the Higher National Diploma (HND) and their Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science counterparts as the FGN produced doc to end it.

Mr. Oronsaye, at a forum, frankly declared that HND was not equivalent to a university degree because "it is not the same curriculum". To further drive home his point, the then Head of Civil Service said, "There is a body, the National Council on Establishments, where this thing was tabled, and unanimously, all of them said HND cannot be equivalent to a university degree, and that is the highest body to take this decision."
The superiority battle between the HND holders and their university degree colleagues is as contentious as the rivalry between two wives marrying to one husband.
Same orosanye had no tittle but resently mudered NECO and JAMB

Front page plz

What is the meaning Alonzo?

orosanye's legecy