ASUP says new polytechnic service scheme won’t favour HND holders

The Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Federal Polytechnic Bauchi Chapter, has voiced concerns regarding the newly introduced Polytechnic Service Scheme.

The union, pointing out several contentious issues in the approved scheme, fears it will exacerbate the marginalization of Higher National Diploma (HND) holders compared to their counterparts with university degrees.

During an emergency congress held at the Senator Ali Wakili Complex, ASUP Secretariat in FPTB on Wednesday, Acting Chairman Esther Adebitan expressed that the scheme further entrenches discrimination against HND certificate holders in contrast to university graduates.

Adebitan emphasised that the Union fully supports the resolution issued by the Federal Ministry of Education and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), which gives a 15-day ultimatum to suspend the scheme in compliance with existing labour laws or face industrial action.

She said: “We affirm that Polytechnics cannot discriminate against its products in the manner prescribed in this document.”

“This is evident in the provision of discriminatory entry points into the Lecturer cadre for degree holders and HND holders; lowering the career progression bar of holders of HND both in the teaching and non-teaching cadres; discrimination against holders of HND in the appointment of Registrars and Bursars irrespective of their possession of higher level certificates; classification of technologists as non-teaching staff and so on.”

She mentioned  that having deliberated extensively on the contents of the ‘controversial document’  and after further scrutiny by the Union’s Think Tank Committee, as well as the Council of National, Officers (CNO) of the Union, at the 110th meeting of the Union’s NEC, it  hereby communicates the following specific findings:

“The document approved as Scheme of Service for Polytechnics contains significant and fundamental deviations from the document prepared by stakeholders in the sector and coordinated through a series of consultative engagements by the NBTE for over 6 years.”

“The document’s approval route which gave rise to the significant and contentious alterations is legally questionable as the role of The Office of The Head of Civil Service of The Federation as an approving authority is challengeable.

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“Our conviction is that The Head of Civil Service of The Federation cannot be preparing or approving a document on career development of staff including assessment of such staff for career growth when she is neither an employer nor regulator.”

“The status of Nigerian Polytechnics was again brought to question by this controversial document. The tertiary educational institution status of Polytechnics is settled in different laws and policy instruments.”

“Therefore, the introduction of sub-tertiary level qualifications like in this instance the National Skills Qualifications (NSQ) as mandatory conditions for academic staff career growth is a misnomer as the possession of NSQ has no meaningful contribution to the delivery of the contents of the curricula of the different programs offered at the tertiary education level in Polytechnics.”

She stated further: “The contentious document curiously, unjustifiably and unacceptably elongates the career progression steps of the Lecturer cadre from a 7-step to a 9-step career development cadre and at the same time added an extra year for promotion to the final two levels.”

“This implies that anyone on the lecturer cadre will now endure a minimum of 26 tortuous years from the base to the highest level. This is not acceptable, particularly in view of the fact that this deviates from the norm in other sub-sectors and that the retirement age in the sector remains unchanged.”

“The unfair career progression guide in the sector particularly as it affects the teaching and non-teaching staff cadres is a recipe for crises as such is not reflective of the remuneration accruing to the cadres”

“The document was manifest with a proliferation of directorates with unsustainable financial implications on the overhead of the institutions. Equally, we view it as an act of duplicity for the NBTE to enter into a questionable Memorandum of Understanding with the Pharmacists Council of Nigeria on the issue of the status of the HND program in Pharmaceutical Technology run by Polytechnics, while at the same time creating a cadre which requires manpower of same qualification. This contradiction is unfortunate.”

“The release of documents by the NBTE subtly amending some provisions and seeking approval for amendment of others amounts to an admission of guilt and a halfhearted attempt at lifting the mourning mood in the sector imposed by the release of the contentious scheme of service.

“This is unsatisfactory and self-indicting on the commitment of the NBTE to the ideals and aspirations of the Nigeria Polytechnic System.”

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The Nation