FG inaugurates technical committee to bridge HND/B.sc dichotomy

The Federal Government has inaugurated a technical committee to review the contents and curriculum of the Higher National Diploma as part of efforts to bridge the gap between HND and B.sc certificates.
Inaugurating the Committee in his office on Tuesday, the Supervising Minister of Education, Chief Ezenwo Nyesom Wike, said since the pronouncement in 2005 by the then President, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, the removal of ceiling from the career progression of the HND holders, which would make their public service career to terminate at the same level with Degree holders, a lot of efforts towards removing the disparity have been made but the efforts have not yielded the expected fruits.
Wike said that this has necessitated the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics to include the issue of dichotomy between the HND and Degree holders as one of its demands, as well as an issue of discussion in meeting held between the leadership of ASUP with the Secretary to Government of the Federation, the Head of the Civil Service of the Federation and other government officials.
“One of the major outcomes of that meeting was the constitution of an Inter-ministerial technical committee to review the curriculum of the Higher National Diploma graduates,” he said.
The Committee, which has three weeks to conclude its assignment, has the following as its terms of reference:
. Review the curriculum for the HND graduates;
. Introduction of a bridging course that will pave way for the recognition of HND to reach the highest Grade Level in the Public Service; and
. Design a programme to enable the Polytechnics award B –Tech Degree which is equivalent to Degree.
The Committee, chaired by the Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Dr. MacJohn Nwaobiala, has the following members: The Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Labour and Productivity; Permanent Secretary, Career Management Office; Executive Secretary, National Board for Technical Education; Executive Secretary, National Universities Commission; and Executive Secretary, National Commission for Colleges of Education.
Other members are the General Secretary, Nigerian Labour Congress; General Secretary, Trade Union Congress; Director General, Nigeria Employers Consultative Association; Representative of the OSGF; President of ASUP; and Director, Tertiary Education, who is also to serve as the Secretary.