ABSTRACT
This study was
designed to determine the factors responsible for low enrolment into technical
colleges in Lagos State. The study was a survey study which involved the
technical colleges in Lagos State. The population of the study was 30 technical
teachers of technical colleges in Lagos state. The study was guided by three research
questions. The instrument for gathering the data was a structure questionnaire.
The questionnaire was subjected to face validation by three experts. The
reliability of the instrument was found to be .80 using test retest method. The
data collected were analysed using mean to answer each research question. The
study identified the societal attitude, economic and value system responsible
for low enrolment into the technical colleges in Lagos State. Also, it
identified intervention measures needed to improve enrolment into technical
colleges in Lagos State. The study recommended that: 1) The Lagos state
government through the Lagos State Ministry of Education should set up
strategies that will create awareness so as to make parents and students know
the needs and benefits of being craftsmen. 2) The government through the Lagos
state ministry of education should make available sufficient technical teachers
into technical colleges. 3) Industries and other Non-governmental Organization
should try to show that craftsmen education is important to the country by participating
in the funding of technical colleges and craftsmen training programmes. 4) The
Lagos state government should try and create advocacy programmes such as seminars,
workshop, conferences, T.V and radio advert, other media e.t.c. for Technical
and Vocational Education in Lagos State.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
TITLE PAGE … …
…. ….
…. …. …. …. …. …. .. I
APPROVAL PAGE …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. .. II
CERTIFICATION …. …. …. …. …. ….. …. …. ….
.. III
DEDICATION …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …..
,,, IV
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
…. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ,,,
V
TABLE OF CONTENTS …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….
,,, VI
LIST OF TABLES …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …VIII
ABSTRACT …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. … … … IX
CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …
1
Background
of the study …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….1
Statement
of the Problem …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….8
Purpose
of the Study …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….9
Significance
of the Study …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….9
Research
Questions …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….10
Assumptions
Of the Study …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….10
CHAPTER II: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE…. …. …. …. ….12
The Conceptual Framework ….
…. …. ….
….. …… ….. ……
….. …….12
Concept of Vocational and Technical Education in Nigeria …. …….
……. ……..12
Technical
Colleges and Manpower Production in Nigeria …. …. …. ……..13
Brief
history of Technical Colleges…. …. …. …. …. ….….
15
Enrolment
into Technical Colleges …. ……. …..
…… ….. …..
….. ….. …… 18
Societal
Attitude Responsible for Low Enrolment
in Technical Colleges …. …. 18
Economical
Factors and Value System Responsible for
Low Enrolment in
Technical
Colleges .. …. ……. …..
…… ….. ……. …..
…… ….. ………
19
Intervention
Measures Needed for Improving Enrolment in Technical Colleges ... 20
Review
of Related Empirical Study….…. …. …. …. …. ….
.... ..21
Summary
of Reviewed Related Literature …. …. …. …. …. ….. 24
CHAPTER III: METHODOLOGY…. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….
.26
Research
Design …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. 26
Area
of the study …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. 26
Population
for the study…. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. …. 26
Instrument
for Data Collection …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. .27
Validation
of the instrument …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. 27
Reliability
of the Instrument …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. 28
Method
of Data Collection …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….
28
Method
of Data Analysis …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. 28
CHAPTER IV: PRESENTATION AND
ANALYSIS OF DATA…. …. …. ….
29
Research Question 1 …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. 29
Research Question 2 …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …... 30
Research Question 3 …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ……
…… 31
Findings …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. …. 32
Discussions of Findings …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. … .34
CHAPTER V: SUMMARY, FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ….. …..
… 37
Restatement
of the problem …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. 37
Summary
of procedure used …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. 38
Summary
of findings …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….
38
Implication
of the Study…. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….
….
41
Conclusion
…. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. …. 42
Recommendation
…. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. …. 42
Suggestions
for further research …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. 43
REFERENCES …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. …. ….. …. 44
APPENDIX
A Letter to Respondents …. …. …. …. …. ….
45
APPENDIX B Questionnaire …. …. …. …. …. …. ….
46
List of Tables
|
1
|
Mean
Ratings of the Responses of the respondents on the societal attitude
responsible for low enrolment into technical colleges in Lagos State
|
29
|
|
2
|
Mean Ratings of the Responses of the
respondents on the economical factors and value system responsible for low
enrolment into technical colleges in Lagos State
|
30
|
|
3
|
Mean Ratings of the Responses of the
respondents on the intervention measures needed for improving enrolment into
technical colleges in Lagos State.
|
31
|
CHAPTER
I
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Vocational and technical education is the type of education
which provides its recipients with skills, knowledge and attitude required in a
chosen occupation.
Wenrich and Wenrich (1974) defined
vocational education in terms of the range of occupations with which it is
concerned. According to them, vocational education means a vocational or
technical training or retraining which is given in schools or classes under
public supervision and control, and is conducted as part of a programme
designed to prepare individuals for gainful employment as semi-skilled or
skilled workers or technicians or sub-professionals in emerging or recognized
occupations. These occupations according to Wenrich and Wenrich include
agriculture, home economics, trade and industrial education and business
education, Olaitan (2006) defines vocational/technical education as that aspect
of education which is a skill acquisition oriented form of training, based on
application of mathematics and scientific knowledge in specific field for self
actualization and development.
The Federal Republic of Nigeria(2004) provides a more
comprehensive definition of vocational and technical education as ‘those
aspects of the education process involving, in addition to general education,
the study of technologies and related sciences and the acquisition of practical
skills, attitudes, understanding and knowledge relating to occupation in
various sectors of economic and social life. According to the Federal Republic
of Nigeria, Technical and vocational education is understood to be: An integral
part of general education; means of
preparing for occupational fields and for effective participation in the world
of work; an aspect of lifelong learning and preparation for responsible
citizenship; an instrument for promoting environmentally sound, sustainable
development and a method of alleviating poverty.
In Nigeria, Vocational and technical education is available
at three levels:
(1) Pre-vocational education or general vocational
education offered in Secondary schools
(2) Vocational (job specific) education offered in
Technical colleges and vocational centers
(3) Post secondary education offered at the
institutions such as Polytechnics and Monotechnics, Colleges of Education
(technical)
The Federal Republic of Nigeria in her National Policy of
Education (2004) defines the goals of
Vocational and technical education as follows:
(1) Provide trained manpower in applied sciences,
technology and business particularly at craft, advanced craft and technical
levels;
(2) Provide for the technical knowledge and
vocational skills necessary for agricultural, commercial and economic development;
(3) Give training and impart the necessary skills
to individual who shall be self-reliant economically.
VTE involves the acquisition of skills for employment. The
individual who avails himself or herself of the opportunity for vocational and technical
education is the primary beneficiary of the education because he/she will
receive vocational and technical skills that will allow him/her to be engaged
in productive work either for himself/herself or for an employer. Apart from
enabling the individual to hold productive employment, vocational and technical
skills developed in the course of training increases the productivity and
earning capacity of the recipient (Uwadiae, 1992). Other benefits include
increased employability and higher job mobility. People who have been trained
for specific jobs in the world of work are highly employable and less likely to
suffer severe unemployment than those who are bereft of specific occupational
skills. As a result of the versatile uses to which vocationally and technically
trained jobbers can put their skills, such workers can change jobs easily in
search of greener pastures and better jobs. According to Uwaidae, vocational
and technical education also enables a person to make intelligent use of
products of technology, utilize new technologies, develop better
entrepreneurial skills and become more innovative worker.
Although the individual is the primary beneficiary of VTE,
the society or nation is the better of it. VTE reduces drop-out rate by
providing training opportunities for persons who are not satisfied with the
forms of education that are distant from the realities of the world of work.
VTE also reduces the rate of unemployment in a society. In a country like
Nigeria where unemployment is the order of the day, VTE is the best way of
curbing the problem of unemployment. VTE could be employed to develop saleable
skills in student so that they can become easily employable after school. VTE
stimulates technological industrial development by providing competent workers
who are capable of developing and utilizing technologies for industries and
economic development. VTE is a mechanism for meeting the man power needs of a
nation in agricultural, technical, industrial, business, paramedical, home
economics and other clusters of occupations.
One of the technical colleges in
Nigeria is the technical colleges. According to Okoro (1998), Technical
colleges are regarded as the principal vocational institutions in Nigeria
because they give full vocational education intended to prepare students for
entry into various occupations. The courses offered in technical colleges
include mechanical trades, computer craft practice, electrical engineering
trades, building trades, wood trades, hospitality, and textile trade, printing
trades, beauty culture trades, business trades and host of others. Technical
colleges produce well trained technical manpower at various levels (operatives,
craftsmen and master craftsmen) and as in various technical and vocational
fields. Graduate from the technical colleges are award NABTEB certificates
which are National technical certificate (NTC), the National business
certificate (NBC) the Advanced National Technical Certificate and the Advance
National Business Certificate (ANBC). The minimum entry requirement into
technical colleges is the junior school certificate (JSC). Entry could also be
based on evidence of aptitude shown in the technical courses and a
reasonably good performance in mathematics and science. Technical colleges
providing job-specific training institutions within formal secondary education,
produce skilled labour (craftsmen). Vocational education programme in the
technical colleges is designed to produce competent craftsmen for the nation’s
industrial economic and technological development
Despite
the importance of craftsmen, enrolment into the technical colleges has been
very low. This low enrolment into technical colleges can be traced back to the
economical factors and value system in Nigeria. In Nigeria, People prefer white
collar jobs than manual jobs. This is due to the British-type liberal education
being received by Nigerian as part of her colonial legacy. Courses such as
medicine, accounting, commerce, are preferred by Nigerians at the expense of
courses that are manually oriented. White collar jobs are preferable to manual
jobs neglecting the fact that manual jobs is productive and increases the Gross
National Profit (GNP) of the nation
Coupled with this economical and value
system is the societal attitude to VTE programs. Vocational and technical
education in Nigeria is generally perceived as the education for the ungifted
and less privileged child. This problem could be traced to the National Policy
on Education provision for technical colleges in Nigeria. Okoro (1999) stated
that the National policy on Education (1981) gave lower status to vocational
and technical education and places unnecessary obstacle in the way student who
chose to pursue a vocational-technical programme at the secondary school level.
According to him, the National Policy on Education states that trade centre,
technical colleges and similar vocational centres would be established to
absorb junior secondary school leavers who could not proceed to senior
secondary school. This is usually interpreted to mean that after the junior
secondary school, students would be separated into two groups- the privilege
group who would go to senior secondary school (from where universities,
polytechnics and colleges of education draw their students) and the underprivileged
who would go to trade centres and technical colleges and who would have
virtually no prospects of furthering their education beyond the technical
college or trade centre level. It is therefore no doubt that the senior
secondary school has higher prestige and would be preferred to the technical
college or trade centre by parents and students even in cases where students
would have fared better in technical colleges and trade centre
As
intervention measures to the situation, the National Policy was reviewed in
2004 and it tries to reposition the technical colleges. It states that students
who complete junior secondary school shall be streamed into senior secondary
school; technical colleges; out-of-school vocational training centre; and
apprenticeship scheme. According to the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004), the
streaming shall be based on the result of tests to determine academic ability
and vocational interest; and as much as possible to achieve a transition ratio
of 50:20:20:10 respectively. This was a strategy to place technical colleges to
a fairer position than how it has been viewed by the public, but the policy
provision still regards technical colleges as education for the underprivileged
and ungifted students. .
Moreover
as part of intervention measures to improve technical college programmes. The
Federal Government also converted technical college programmes to full
secondary education with duration of six years offering senior school science
and normal craft and advanced craft programmes at senior secondary level to
attract entrants. Students from primary schools are now being admitted into the
junior college component of technical colleges to enable the technical colleges
stand a fair chance of having good quality entrants as well as provide an early
orientation towards VTE. Complementing to this, the Federal Government renamed
technical colleges to federal science and technical colleges. But low enrolment
is still witnessed in technical colleges.
Lagos
State government in this same bid has also made some concerned effort to
improve student’s enrolment into technical colleges. This includes the
establishment of the Ministry of Science and Technical College for proper
monitoring of technical colleges programmes. The Lagos State government has
commenced the implementation of policy aimed at strengthening its vocational
and technical education in the state. As part of strategies to reposition the
technical colleges, the Lagos State government has also renamed the state’s
technical colleges to state science and technical college and therefore has
renovated and equipped the five technical colleges in Lagos State.
The
Lagos State government also realized that technical colleges can play a major
role in the realization of the mega city project and also make school leavers
self-reliant and employers of labour in terms of skills acquisition therefore
presented 49 courses to NBTE for accreditation but 45 were accredited. All
these efforts were made to make the technical colleges attractive.
Irrespective
of the government intervention, low enrolment is still witnessed. The major
consequence or implication of the low enrolment is the massive wastage of
resources in terms of financial, material and human resources. Education is a
huge investment in human capital. By spending huge resources in technical
colleges, the society is forgoing present consumption in order to equip its
citizens with knowledge and skills which would make them more productive in
future. The investment in technical colleges implies that the same resources
will not be available for investment in other sectors of the economy. As long
as the enrolment into technical colleges remains low, the government resources
being spent on the improvement of technical colleges will be wasted.
Besides
the wastage of government investment and resources, the few students who get
admitted into the technical colleges are without prerequisite qualification.
They get into the technical college system with little or no interest in the
courses they offer. As a result of this, some student might drop out of the
system and end up as touts, okada riders and different kinds of miscreant while
the certificate of the product may have little or no importance to them.
It
is no news to anyone that the world is a global village, as time goes by there
is advancement in technology in manufacturing and servicing occupations.
Nigeria is also not left behind this technological advancement. People have to
be trained for the new jobs that are becoming available in these areas of
manufacturing and service occupations. Some of these occupations require not
only manual skills but also a high level of technology knowledge coupled with
broad education. Qualified persons trained in accordance with the principles of
VTE are needed for Nigeria advancing technology. In a situation where there is
low enrolment in technical schools, it will impossible to provide the necessary
manpower needed to meet up with this technological advancement.
Another
consequence of this low enrolment is increase in unemployment. There is high
level of unemployment in Nigeria. This is due partly to the fact that people do
not have the knowledge and skills that will enable take the available jobs or
to be self employed. Technical colleges are capable of enabling persons to
obtain the skills they need in order to fill the vacancies that exist and make
them self employed and thereby reducing the level of unemployment and youthful
unrest that characterized the Nigerian society. The low enrolment and the
consequences in Lagos State have continued to be a source of concern to
technical college teachers. This study therefore aims to determine the
perception of technical college teachers on factors responsible for low
enrolment in technical colleges in Lagos State.
Statement of the Problem
As the government is funding the technical colleges and
ensuring that there is continuous improvement in technical college program,
there is suppose to be improvement in enrolment into technical colleges so that
the country can produce the needed craftsmen produce for the technological
advancement. However, low enrolment has been witnessed in most of the technical
colleges in Lagos. The consequence of this low enrolment is that the resources
that are being invested into technical colleges will be wasted.
As technical colleges are being improved and facilitated,
there is supposed to be increased interest in vocational courses and enrolment
into technical colleges. The few students who get admitted into the technical
colleges are without prerequisite qualification. According to Olaitan (1986),
they get into the technical college system with little or no interest in the
courses they offer. The continuous admission of student into technical colleges
without interest in vocational courses will continue to produce drop out and
unskilled youths. This will therefore lead to low production of craftsmen in
Lagos State.
There is a high level of unemployment in Nigeria. This is
partly due to the fact that people do not have the required knowledge and
skills to secure and create jobs to be self employed. The Technical colleges
can produce individuals who are capable of securing good jobs and getting self
employed so as to overcome the problem of unemployment. But as long as there is low enrolment in the
technical colleges, youths will continue to remain unemployed which will lead
to unrest and increases in vices in Lagos State. Hence this study is to
determine the perception of technical college teachers on identification of the
factors responsible for low enrolment into technical colleges in Lagos State.
Purpose of the Study
The major purpose of this study is to identify the factors
responsible for low enrolment into technical colleges in Lagos State. This
study sought to identify;
(1) Societal attitude responsible for low
enrolment in technical colleges in Lagos State
(2) Economical factors and value system
responsible for low enrolment in technical colleges in Lagos State
(3)
Intervention measures needed for improving students’ enrolment into technical
colleges in Lagos State.
Significance of the Study
The projected outcome, after the societal attitude has been
identified, will be of benefit to the Lagos State Ministry of Education. It
will enable the ministry to be aware of the responsible for running away from
technical colleges. By doing this it will enable them set up strategies that
will create awareness so as to make parents and students know the needs and
benefits of being craftsmen.
The projected outcome of the economical factors and value
system will be of benefit to the industry and the employers of labour. It will
make them know they need to participate in funding of technical colleges and
craftsmen training programmes. The benefit is that the society will realize
that craftsmen are important to themselves and the society.
After the intervention measures needed for improving
students enrolment, it will be of benefit to the individuals and the society.
It will make them realize that being a craftsman will make them acquire skill
to be highly employable and be self-employed. The benefit is that the
unemployment rate and drop-out rate will reduce and there will also be low
wastage of resources (material and human) of the government.
Research Questions
The
following are the research question for this study
(1) What are the societal factors responsible
for low enrolment in Technical colleges in Lagos State?
(2) What are the economical factors
responsible for low enrolment in technical colleges in Lagos State?
(3) What Intervention measures can we suggest
to improve students enrolment into technical colleges in Lagos State.
Assumption of Study
In carrying out this study, the
following assumption was made;
1)
The technical teachers in the technical
colleges will provide reliable and unbiased responses to the items of the
questionnaire
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