CRITIQUE ARTICLE 2: Use of Career Education and Occupation Information Services in Boosting Enrolment into Vocational and Technical Education Programs in Nigeria

ARTICLE 2:

Use of Career Education and Occupation Information Services in

Boosting Enrolment into Vocational and Technical Education

Programs in Nigeria

By:

Igbinedion, V. I.1 & I. J. Ojeaga1

Department of Vocational and Technical Education, Faculty of Education, University of Benin, Benin

(International Education Studies; Vol. 5, No. 4; 2012)

ARTICLE REVIEW:

The authors has discussed about to address issues of youth unemployment, poverty and international competitiveness in skills development towards current and projected opportunities and challenges. Numerous reforms in vocational and technical education programs over the years, they still remain greatly detested by students and parents in Nigeria as evidenced in low enrolment when compared with sciences, engineering, banking and finance, and medicine.

The authors was also describe that technical and vocational education in Nigeria is so misconstrued that it has become extremely difficult in management perspective, to administer the program to meet societal ever changing needs. Presently, the program is bedeviled by many challenges that hinder the realization of its objectives as specified by the National Policy on Education of Federal Government of Nigeria (2004). One of these challenges is low enrolment. It is the concern of that enrolment into technical and vocational programs may be low not because Nigerian youths are lazy nor do not want to use their hands to work. But it may be because many Nigerians do not fully understand the benefits, scope and content of the program and lack of vocational or career education and occupation information services to students while in or out of schools.

The authors also mentioned that many of them make choices without proper understanding of their abilities, interests and attitudes. Most of the young people are said to select occupations like medicine, engineering, accounting mainly because of the positions and prestige attached to the job and not necessarily as a result of conscious assessment of the individual’s interests and abilities. Therefore, career education may be a veritable means of providing career awareness and information services to students in order to improve enrolment in vocational and technical education in Nigeria. Students, parents and the society at large look unto the school to help the adolescents and youth make career decision based on realistic abilities, interests and availability. Therefore, it is required to use of career education and occupation information services in boosting enrolment in vocational and technical education programs in Nigeria.

In addition, from the author’s research, they are also identified some of the factors responsible for low enrolment in TVET in Nigeria which are:

1.  Poor Societal Perception: Many people are yet to understand the meaning, scope and content of vocational and technical education. Some view it as education for the handicapped or education for those who cannot cope with the sciences. (Osa-Edoh ,2008)

2.    Poor Societal Attitude: The attitude of people towards vocational and technical education contributes to the problems in teaching the subject. It notes that in schools, the teacher could be teaching people who are not interested in the subject that is being taught. (Idialu, 2007).

3.   Elitism: Elitism could be described as the belief of a group in society that because of superior privileges, power and talent they tend to hold on to this belief through a system of education that will sustain this group’s interest. (Oviawe and Anavberokhai, 2008).

4.    Poor Entry Level: Students who enroll in vocational and technical education programs are considered to have low aptitude. The technical schools find it hard to attract good students because there is a strong misconception that they are reserved for the never-to- do-wells and other negative by-products. Those admitted because they cannot find other things to do barely pass through the program because of poor aptitude and attitude. (Oviawe and Anavberokhai, 2008).

5.   Lack of Recognition: There is a low recognition associated with manual labor in Nigeria. Unlike her counterparts in developed countries, the skilled craftsman does not enjoy the same recognition. (Oviawe and Anavberokhai, 2008).

6.    Discrimination against Graduates of Technical and Vocational Education: There is also the problem of unhealthy perception or discrimination against technical graduates. It was stated that this discrimination is virtually visible amongst graduates of technical schools (technical college, monotechnics, colleges of technology, polytechnics) and university graduates. Up till now, the former is being managed by National Board for Technical Education while the latter is under the supervision of National Universities Commission. countries, the skilled craftsman does not enjoy the same recognition (Ogidefa, 2010).

DISCUSSION

From the above, it shows that the TVET programmes in Nigeria are still not being acceptable by most of the people. Low prestige given to the TVET is the most factors that hinder the participation of the students to the TVET. Other factors like discrimination to the TVET programme, poor entry level to TVET, elitism, etc are also will become crucial if no actions taken to this issue. It is agreed that it was difficult to the government in enhancing or rebranding the educational systems especially TVET as it requires a lot of financial support and resources. However, due to the current globalization of the economy systems, the government of Nigeria needs to do something in promoting TVET as the economy will grow with the support from the TVET. The growth of the country is actually depending on how many unemployed in that country. The less number of unemployed, the more established the country. Few actions can be taken in promoting TVET like career conference, field trip, collaborating industrial training, providing career information center, etc.

REFERENCE

1.   Idialu, E. E. (2007). Quality Assurance in The Teaching And Examination Of Vocational And Technical Education In Nigeria. College Student Journal, 41(3). 649-56. Retrieved from: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0FCR/is_3_41/ai_n27391160/pg_3/?tag=content;col1

2.  Ogidefa, I. (2010). Enhancing Technical Vocational Education in Nigerian Schools. Socyberty. Retrieved from:

http://socyberty.com/education/enhancing-technical-vocational-education-in-nigerian-schools/4/

3.    Osa-Edoh G. I. (2008). The Place of Vocational And Technical Education In Skills Acquisition By Secondary School Students – Implication For Counseling. Technical and Vocational Education Journal. 1(2). 84-90.

4.  Oviawe, J.I. & Anavberokhai, M.O. (2008). The Role of Entrepreneurship Education In The Realization Of The National Economic Empowerment And Development Strategy (NEEDS). Technical and Vocational Education Journal, 1(1).

Prepared By: Nurihah Mohamad Saleh (MP 111227)