Minister of Education, Malam Adamu Adamu on August
2, confirmed the abolition of the dichotomy that
hitherto existed between the Higher National Diploma
(HND) and University degree otherwise known as B.Sc.
The Minister who announced the official position of the
government in Abuja yesterday said the stories that has
been on social media has element of mischief.
“The dichotomy between Bsc and HND has been
eliminated,” he said.



Daily Sun gathered that the National Council on
Establishments (NCE) has also given approval for the
abolition of the dichotomy.


The Minister, last month announced that the
government had concluded plans to abolish the
dichotomy that hitherto existed between these two
educational qualifications, but a reliable source in the
Ministry said the policy announcement was put on hold
pending the decision of the National Council on
Establishments and the Federal Executive Council (FEC).




“This is serious education policy that has effect on
millions of Nigerian students. So, the Minister is very
careful not to make mistake that would further
compound the issue. To this end, he (the Minister)
decided to wait for the input of all stakeholders,” the
source said.




However, some scholars have expressed mixed reaction
to the plan of the government to abolish the dichotomy.

A lecturer from the University of Abuja who pleaded said
instead of abolition, a short post-graduate program
should be developed for polytechnic graduates
to brush them up and bring them up to the level of the
University graduates.



“Why would you want to abolish the dichotomy and put
both qualifications side by side when the entry
requirements for university is higher than that of
polytechnics. For instance, there are specific number of
Professors and P.hD holders required in a particular
faculty in a university, unlike in the polytechnics, where,
in some cases, you discover that it is university
graduates that are teaching the students,” he said.



The president of the Academic Staff of Nigerian
Universities (ASUU), Professor Biodun Ogunyemi also
opposed the abolish the dichotomy.


“The tenacity of these two qualifications is tested at the
work place. People have been saying that there is no
disparity between HND and Degree certificate but I
don’t see how both graduates can match each other
especially at the level of work place. Dr. Femi
Olufumilade, Head of Political Science Department,
Igbinedion University, Okada said the decision ought to
have taken place long ago.




“Nevertheless, it is a good development in our education
system because the disparity has created a huge
psychological gap between the graduates of
Polythecnics and University,” he said.



Prof. Ifeoma Nwoye of the Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida
(IBB) University, Lapai, Niger State also endorsed
government. She argued that polythecnic
education system failed woefully in achieving its
objective of raising skilled technical manpower.



“Even the Britain where we copied the polythecnic
education system from has abolished and now run a
single university system. So, there is nothing bad about
the decision,” she said.


She, however, called for a total overhaul of the tertiary
education curriculum.
A lecturer in the Department of Sociology, Dr. Peter
Ogah said , “ It has little or no negative implication. We
welcome it even though I graduated from University. Let
us support it” he said.



She accused the of double standard for giving due
recognition to HND holders, saying that the
discrimination is obvious in government employment,
where HND holders are placed below degree Degree
holders.


A Professor of Education in Ebonyi State University,
Sunday Agwu asked the government, in implementing
such decision to consider admission requirements,
qualifications for lectuerers as well as curricular.




Culled from sunnewsonline.com

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He has done it