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HND, Degree now equal – FG
• Approves post-UME test
By Chesa Chesa,
State House Correspondent, Abuja
The age old discrimination against holders of the Higher National Diploma (HND) ended on Thursday when President Olusegun Obasanjo reversed the policy that restricts them from rising above Grade Level 14 in the public service.
The policy had pitted them against university graduates.
Obasanjo gave the directive in Abuja at a meeting he held with members of the House of Representatives Committee on Education and Education Minister, Chinwe Obaji.
He directed his chief of staff and the head of service to prepare a paper reflecting the new position so that the executive can put it into effect.
Committee Chairman, Ahmad Lawan, told journalists after the meeting that the President accepted to end the dichotomy because he is convinced that polytechnic graduates would be more useful to the nation without the restriction.
Said Lawan: “So many HND holders have contributed or are contributing very meaningfully to the development of Nigeria but the discrimination against them that they cannot rise beyond Level 14 puts both the holders and the country at a disadvantage.
“Because these people, ordinarily, should have contributed much more to our development. We feel that the government should review this policy and the President accepted”.
The committee urged the President to fight examination malpractices in the same manner he is tackling corruption as it is the root cause of the dispute over the post-University Matriculation Examination (UME) test.
“We feel that if we have high profile persons tried, jailed, or fired the incidence of examination malpractice will reduce ”, Lawan added.
Obasanjo called for greater support for the post-UME screening to help reduce examination malpractices which is attributed to “the wrong perception of the aim of education”.
But this is in contrast to the position of the lawmakers who want the screening stopped.
“Students see education as a means to getting a meal ticket and a job, so they believe they must acquire paper qualification by hook or crook”, Obasanjo stressed.
“We must change that perception or orientation so that they will appreciate the intrinsic value of education which is the total development of the individual to make meaningful contribution to the family, community and nation”.
The President approved an increase in the funds for monitoring the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme from two per cent to four cent.
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