By Chimezie Godfrey
The Federal government has unveiled the new national policy on Science and Technology Education in Nigeria.
The Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu disclosed this during the occasion of the ”Unveiling and Launching of the National Policy on Science and Technology Education,” on Thursday in Abuja.
Represented by the Minister of State Education, Nwajiuba, the Minister said the new policy will direct and propel science and technical education in the country.
“It gives me great pleasure to be here today to unveil and launch the new National Policy on Science and Technology Education (S&TE).
“Prior to the independence of Nigeria when the nation incorporated science into its education curricular, the country has been without a national policy to specifically direct and propel Science and Technology Education.
“Given the critical importance of science and the acquisition of technical and vocational skills as tools for driving national growth and development, the absence of a roadmap for science and technical education has slowed down the pace of Nigeria quest for technological achievement.
“It is therefore, heartwarming that this anomaly is being addressed with the approval granted by the National Council on Education (NCE) for a National Policy on Science and Technology Education (S&TE) which is now in our hands,” Adamu said.
The Minister noted that this development is a significant and landmark achievement by the Federal government.
He added that this underscores the passion and determination of the present administration of President Buhari to address challenges facing the delivery of quality science and technology education in Nigeria.
Mallam Adamu expressed optimism that stakeholders in the science and technology education sub-sector will adhere to the policy and implementation guidelines.
According to him, this will ensure that the desired goal is achieved, while he called for the effective implementation of the policy for growth and the development of science and technology education in Nigeria.
Earlier in his remark, the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Arc. Sonny Echono said the policy was formed due to observed gaps and poor synergy among stakeholders which has hindered the optimal development of the sub-sector.
According to him, the policy is multi-sectoral and has a holistic approach to leadership and life skills training for pupils, students, teachers and youths in and out of school.
Echono added that the policy will help to address issues of institutional and human capacity building and linkage between schools and communities.
“It includes provision of required facilities and equipment on a systematic and sustainable basis.
“The new S&TE policy also defines the scope of Technology Education in Nigeria.
“It gives an overview and situation analysis of Technology Education in Nigeria as well as the policy environment.
“It also sets out the expected results and outputs of Nigeria’s technology education endeavors.
“It is therefore fundamental that the policy operators fully assimilate its main prescriptions and the implementation guidelines is a complementary workbook with explanatory notes for all stakeholders.
“This is to further define the roles of stakeholders and ensure effective implementation to make Nigeria economy technology driven and sustainable,” he explained.
The Perm Sec. Stressed that the federal government’s utmost desire is for youths to rightly skilled for global competitiveness, self -reliance, entrepreneurship, job creators and not job seekers.
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