NABTEB decries poor enrolment of youths intechnical education

Leave a Comment The National Business and Technical Examination Board on Wednesday decried the poor level of enrollment of youths in technical and vocational education and training, as Nigeria strives to achieve rapid technological development.The board made this known when it released the 2014 May/June National Business Certificate and National Technical Certificate examination results at its national headquarters in Benin, the Edo State Capital.The Registrar/Chief Executive of the board, Dr. Olatunde Aworanti, disclosed that out of a total of 81,200 candidates who registered for the examination nationwide, 79,495 candidates sat for the examination in engineering, construction, miscellaneous and business trades, which had the highest enrolment of 39,745 candidates.Aworanti noted that a total of 29,129 candidates scored five credits and above, including English and Mathematics, representing 36.64 per cent in the NBC/NTC examinations.He also said that the board recorded 1,952 cases of examination malpractice, representing 2.46 per cent as against 5,108 cases in 2013, adding that it was a decrease of 3,156 cases representing 61.8 per cent.The registrar, who attributed the decrease to the introduction of e-learning packaging for candidates, intensive monitoring by all stakeholders and the use of the biometric data capturing system, however, lamented that the number of candidates registered for its examinations were below expectation.He, therefore, urged all stakeholders to promote the engagement of youths in technical education and training in order to check restiveness and unemployment in the country.“The three tiers of government should embark on youths empowerment programme through which the working class/out-of-school candidates will be opportuned to learn a trade for a living.“This training could be done through skill acquisition programmes to increase the standard of living, reduce cost of living, improve labour force and life expectancy,” the registrar said.He also advocated a synergy between the public and private sectors in the promotion of technical and vocational education and training