A couple of days ago,i wrote about the proliferation of Universities and how it did not portend well for the quality of education.Of course,i had to make reference,to the President,because it is his brainchild. I also said that the fallen standards did not start with this President,but that he had done nothing to stem the tide,rather,he had exacerbated it by this policy of planting a Federal University in every state. Of course the supporters,pilloried me and said the President was spot on.Why should a kifd in Kontagora,wait for the one in Lagos to have a lap top,i was asked.Though i dont reallly see the relevance of that question.Another,in response to the point i made about lecturers,teaching in two or three varsities,claimed that it was the norm in the Western world.Well,that is a lie! Secondly,even if it is the norm,the NUC Regulations,clearly state that it is illegal for a lecturer to operate like that within out university system! Upon further investigation,i found out that most of these new universities,are not able to meet accreditation requirements on a department by department basis,because the personnel required at the different levels of instruction,is just not there.So,we have non PhD holders,heading departments,we have many departments without professors and as such,the level of scholarship is substabdard for a department within a university! In order to shore up their fortunes,old,retired professors are employed.This in itself is not bad,because i feel that the retirement age thing is ridiculous,if the Prof in question,is still sound and intellectually nimble.However,what these old men face,as they try to boost the standards,is acrimony and resentment! Why? The paramount issue.......who is this foreigner? why is he coming from outside to tell us what to do? How dare he tell us that we must publish or not get promoted? The issues go on and on.So,NUC,shows up and a university which has been in exustence for five years,cannot pass muster! Some of those who opposed my stand,said......take off grants should be provided for the universities and then,they be left to generate revenue internally to progress.On the surface this sounds plausible.But,the burden is then passed to the students,who are taxed to no end.Now,please understand that i have never been an advocate of free or subsidised education,because that again is unsustainable and further weakens or erodes the quality of the end products! But,if students are initially admitted on the premise that education,will be subsidised,and then suddenly made to pay higher fees or are suddenly levied on different levels there will be hell to pay! What about the large number of support/non academic staff?Does the Federal Government not take this into consideration? What about the physical infrastructure itself?Can the government really afford to finance 36 Universities? The question really,is should it? I certainly think not! As i said,if states feel they are capable enough to instituted Universities in their domains,for their people,by all means,let them.But i daresay they will face the same challenges as these now Federal Universities.The principal challenge,being man power.Specialized Man Power. My dad,worked at the Bayelsa State owned,Niger Delta University at Amassoma,and was astounded to find that the Faculty of Law,had backlog of three sets of graduates,who had not been able to attended the Law School,because results had from 2004,had not been passed to Senate for ratification!!! Why?The staff availabke,just ciuld not cope! Why? There was a policy on appointing a certain quota of Bayelsans and if that quota was not met,non Bayelsans,would nit be employed! Can you see why education MUST NOT BE POLITICIZED??! I maintain that if we cannot get our manpower development issues right at the level of tertiary education training,the much desired development at national level will continue to elude us.IT DOES NOT START WITH THE PROLIFERATION OF UNIVERSITIES!
Posted on: Sun, 11 Jan 2015 08:11:27 +0000
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