Fed govt launches new science, technology policy

The Federal Government has launched a national policy to reposition technical and vocational education.

The government said science and technology education would drive national growth and development.

Education Minister, Malam Adamu Adamu noted that the absence of a roadmap for science and technical education had slowed the country’s pace in technological development.

Adamu, who was represented by his Minister of State for Education, Emeka Nwajiuba, said prior to Nigeria’s independence when science education was incorporated into the education curricula, the country was without a national policy to, specifically, direct and propel science and technical education.

“It is 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 in our hands.

“This development is not only significant, but also a landmark achievement by the Federal Government . It underscores the passion and determination of the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari to address the challenges facing the delivery of quality science and technical education in Nigeria,” the minister said.

Adamu urged stakeholders in the science and technology education sub-sector to ensure that they adhered to the new policy and implementation guidelines, if the desired goal must be achieved.

Permanent Secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, Sonny Echono, said the national policy was conceived out of the observed gaps and poor synergy among stakeholders.

“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/outputs of Nigeria’s technology education endeavours.

“The Federal Government’s utmost desire is for our youths to be rightly skilled for global competitiveness, self-reliance, entrepreneurship, job creators and not job seekers. It is my strong belief that the implementation of this policy will address these issues,” he said.