ASUP
Polytechnics Not Fulfilling Their Mandate – Visitation Panel
A Presidential Visitation Panel sent to the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti, Ekiti State has said the polytechnics in the country designed to develop technical education have not been living up to their mandate.
The chairman of the 7-man panel tagged: “Making the System Work”, Chief John Ochoga, attributed the failure to the falling standard of education to the development.
Ochoga who spoke in Ado Ekiti yesterday during an interaction with newsmen on their mission at the polytechnic said the institutions were to promote technology and advance the economy.
He said, “The disappointments we are getting in our polytechnics were a function of our falling educational standards. There are students who are doing brilliantly well in some polytechnics and also in the universities, but whatever happens is part of the failure of the system.
It is a general failure. You can get the best brains anywhere”.
Ochoga agreed that upgrading the Nigerian Polytechnics was not out of place to rejig the system and wipe out dichotomy, warning that this should not derail the focus if eventually actualised.
While backing the upgrading of Polytechnics to university status, he said such should not derail the focus, which was to advance technology in our country.
“The better thing I think we should do is that we must respect the diversity of our education that has been our problem. We must diversify our revenue sources as individuals. This will wipe out this issue of dichotomy between universities and Polytechnics”, Ochoga said.
Ochoga also clarified that the panel was not at the Federal Polytechnic, Ado Ekiti to probe or investigate anybody, but to ascertain problems militating against the institution for necessary solutions.
