The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP) has appealed to the Federal Government to upgrade all polytechnics to universities of technology to end discrimination against Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate holders in the country.
This was appeal was made by Mr. Adeyemi Aromolaran, Yaba College of Technology branch Chairman of ASUP, in an interview with newsmen in Lagos on Wednesday.
The ASUP chairman said that government’s discriminatory policies against polytechnics were retarding the development of technical education in the country.
“We need to look at the British example of running educational programmes, because that is where Nigeria copied the polytechnic education system from.
“Britain had abolished polytechnics long time ago; all polytechnics have been turned to universities of technology in that country,’’ Aromolaran said.
He noted that admission figures into the nation’s polytechnics and colleges of education were dropping every year due to the persistence of this discrimination.
He stressed that the removal of this dichotomy is what the union has been agitating for and that the government has not given any favourable response.
The ASUP chairman added that until all the unfriendly policies were abolished, the country would not have an effective polytechnic system that would be acceptable by all.
Aromolaran said the union would continue to protest and resist all attempts to diminish the progress and development of the polytechnic education in the country.