QUALIFICATIONS DICHOTOMY

The disparity between the Higher National Diploma, HND graduates and Degree holders have increased and continued to raise dust.

By  AKOH GODDAY.

As part of the problem revenging the educational sector in the country, Polytechnic graduates have expressed their displeasure towards the continuous segregation with their University counterparts, despite several appeals to abolish the disparity between them, especially when it comes to job placement. 

The struggle to abolish the disparity  between the HND and Degree holders have  been on for long as the  Academic Staffs Union of Polytechnics, ASUP, has earlier expressed their grieviances through series of strikes, as its most recent strike lasted for about a year of academic session, with the key demand which is the abolition of the dichotomy.

All efforts to distort the disparity among graduates have been to no avail as many stakeholders in the polytechnics, their counterparts in universities, not excluding parents and students from both streams had called for an end to the disparity.

speaking with a working class polytechnic graduate, Oluwaye Adeola, said that  “seeking an end to the disparity via legislation was not the ultimate”

He added that being a polytechnic graduate was a thing of the mind which could continue to affect an individual even after bridging the gap between both counterparts.

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A working class mass communication student, Jerry Doglass, who works as a freelancer also agitated against the unjust segregation, though He could not recall ever being discriminated . “I do not face any discrimination and I think it is a thing of the mind and depends on what you have to offer both practically and theorically, as the case may be. As for me, I see myself as a normal graduate” he said.

With all these educational dilemma in the country, the youths have however being affected as regards making their choices of careers, such that most students now try as much as they can to make the polytechnics education evitable and go for a university education so as to escape the promiscous nemesis of the ongoing collision.

However, the existence of this disparity which has been on for long has placed paramount and tantamount questions on the lips of the nation's residents  as it leave them in the bridge of confussion.

“There is no doubt that the presence of the middle level manpower is highly appreciated in any economy, so as to ensures its growth and development and by implication its national development”.

Despite the fact that Nigeria has many polytechnics that produce these middle level manpower, its economy has refused to grow. And this is attributed to the disparity and controversy between the H.N.D and Bachelors’ degree, which resulted in many students’ opting for the university education, which is purely academic and theoretical as against polytechnic education which is practical and pragmatic. The idea is that with bachelors Degree, they will acquire better jobs and earn more salary.

This tragedy has resulted in the mass exodus of students from the polytechnic to the university thereby creating a vacuum hard to be filled, in the nation's labour market, all due to disparity and controversy surrounding these counterparts. This has done more harm than good to the economic development and educational advancement of this nation. It has generated also a lot of controversy than progress in the educational system.

for a long time, this controversy has been a thorn on the flesh of Nigeria's educational system.   

While seeking views on how the issue of disparity among graduates could be curbed in the country, the majority  have opined with possible steps   to eradicate this stigma, sighting various options such as the federal government eliminating the disparity using a legislative function, that the disparity could either be cancelled through the introduction of an ACT to abolish this collision, or the federal government converts all polytechnics to institutions that will be charged with the responsibility of certifying degree certificates, however completely eradicating the existence of polytechnic education out of the system, so as to enable a smooth and successful educational and economic  sector in the country.

The President of ASUP, Dr Chibuzor Asomugha, acknowledged the action as a step forward.

“The union thinks the parties are making some kind of progress; at least, it is a step forward, depending on how fast the government will act on this report,’’ Asomugha said.

The ASUP president, who said there were some other issues in the report that had not been fully resolved, however expressed the belief that more work would still be done on the report.

As part of the efforts to abolish this dichotomy, a social critic has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to help stop alleged discrimination between these graduates in Nigeria's paramilitary formations.

In an essay published by PM News, Buhari was urged to take quick action in order to stop the 'dangerous discrimination.'
"This discrimination is dangerous, unethical, and unconstitutional."

The unnamed critic warned that the discrimination could lead to armed conflict if nothing is done urgently