The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) has unveiled over 60 new and reviewed curricula of the National Diploma (ND), and the Higher National Diploma (HND) curricula in the last two years.
The Executive Secretary, NBTE, Prof. Idris Bugaje, stated this during a public presentation of the new and reviewed ND, HND curricula, NOS and ODFeL in Abuja Tuesday.
Speaking at the event, Bugaje noted that specifically reviewed curricula are the National Occupational Standards (NOS) and Open, Distance and Flexible e-Learning (ODFeL) Courseware in Technical and Vocational Education Training (TVET).
He said that the new and reviewed curricula were long overdue as they would help to provide general guidance to institutions in determining the body of knowledge and skills, while also addressing the employability problems in the country.
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He said, “The board has a combined total of over 350 curricula, NOS and ODFEL course-ware in the Nigerian TVET system.
“The notable quality of these curricula is that they are industry-driven; developed and/or reviewed with the full participation of the Nigerian industries to address the employability problems that are often encountered by our diplomats upon graduation.
“The problem of employers of labour incurring additional cost to retrain our products in order to fit into their operation is hopefully being solved. The peculiar type of training that should be given to Polytechnic and Monotechnic students in line with the national objective of encouraging youth economic self-reliance, entrepreneurship as a programme has, more than ever before, become one of the key features of the reviewed curricula,” he added.
In his remarks, the Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu said the new development would mark the departure from the old practice where subject experts develop or review curricula without taking cognisance of the expectations of employers of labour.
The minister, who was represented by the Director of Polytechnic Education and Allied Institutions, Dr Ejeh Usman, said the curricula would no doubt instill fresh ideas in the delivery and learning processes.
“I understand over 30 ND/HND curricula, 16 NOS and 18 Course-ware were either developed or reviewed in the last one and a half years, with the active involvement of the industry and the Organised Private Sector (OPS).”
He said that usually curricula were supposed to be reviewed at most every five years, but some were now being reviewed after 20 years.
He said this called for serious efforts by all stakeholders, including TETFund, to ensure the review was carried out on time.
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