The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), on Thursday, took a critical look at the state of polytechnic education and demanded for higher cut-off marks for any candidate aspiring to get admission into polytechnics across the country.

The union frowned at the lower cut-off mark prescribed for candidates seeking polytechnic admission compared to their university counterparts, and declared that the situation is no longer acceptable to the union.

It further described the discriminatory admission cut-off mark between polytechnics and universities by the Joint Admission Matriculation Board (JAMB) as totally unacceptable, saying the disparity of the policy makes polytechnics as undesirable destinations for pursuit of tertiary education.

Addressing a press conference at the Labour House, Abuja, President of ASUP, Comrade Chibuzo Asomugha, insisted that candidates seeking to be admitted into the polytechnics should be placed on the same benchmark as their counterparts.

He said: “The admission policy of the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, which profiles polytechnics as undesirable destinations for pursuit of tertiary education, is absurd and unfortunate.

“The policy has failed to understand that polytechnic education is an aptitude-determined choice of the candidate and not a cesspool of desperation. Candidates who sit for matriculation examinations into tertiary institutions deserve equal treatment.

“The situation where candidates sit for the same examination but are allocated discriminatory cut-off points into the universities, polytechnics and colleges of education respectively shall no longer be accepted by our union.

“Candidates seeking to be admitted into the polytechnics should be placed on the same benchmark as their counterparts. This is to breach public perception which places our sector as inferior or incapable of competing with the best in terms of service delivery.”

The ASUP president also decried the neglect of the polytechnic sector; regretting that more than one year after the union suspended its strike action, which was necessitated by failure of government to address critical problems facing the sector, majority of the issues remain unresolved.

Comrade Asomugha: “Our union had in 2012 drawn the attention of government to very critical needs of polytechnics in the country. Upon repeated reminders and as a result of deliberate failure by government to attend to these needs, our union embarked on a protracted strike from October 2013 to July, 2014.

“When the strike was suspended, the issues at stake were not sufficiently tackled by government. We suspended the strike because of the exigencies of the moment and in order to provide the necessary space for government to address them.

“Today, over 85 per cent of these problems are still pending and we are compelled to bring them to the attention of the present administration driven by the hope that the government will bring to bear on these issues the same seriousness and passion for excellence it has approached national development.”

He listed some of the outstanding issues to include, review of the Polytechnic Act; Needs assessment and funding of public polytechnics; dichotomy between HND and degree graduates, non-implementation of CONTISS 15 migration for the lower cadres and 7 per cent academic allowances.

Others include lopsidedness in funds disbursement and intervention by TETFUND; non-establishment of the National Commission for Polytechnic (NCP).

Also speaking on the implementation of the Treasury Single Account (TSA), he stated that though ASUP recognises government’s intention, he appealed that the implementation of the TSA should take into consideration the peculiarities of tertiary education institutions.

He said: “The tertiary sub-sector is purely service-oriented and its revenue is specifically tied to the daily running of the institutions and for the provisions of consumables needed for teaching and learning. The TSA, though well intended will tie down the processes of provision of daily needs of the institutions and therefore hamper efficient service delivery.

“As well, if strictly applied in its present format, the full operations of tertiary education institutions will be greatly hampered with regard to service delivery, personnel mobility, and global aspirations.”

[url] http://www.koboup.com/2015/09/jamb-asup-rejects-lower-cut-off-for-poly-students/ [/url]

I hate that body.