Poly teachers begin strike,p rotest govt nonchallance to technical education

As the country's education system continues to suffer the effects of the prolonged strike by the Academic Staff Union of Universities, the situation was compounded Monday with the Polytechnics teachers  POLYTECHNIC teachers also embarking on strike.

The poly teachers, under the aegis of the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), began a nationwide strike Monday morning over a number of grievances, which they listed to include alleged government's nonchalant attitude towards technical and technological education, as well as underfunding of the institutions.

The Zonal Coordinator of ASUP in the South-West zone, Mr. Dosunmu Babatunde, who articulated the position of the poly teachers in media briefing, in Abeokuta, Ogun State capital on Sunday, said  that the technological and overall development of the country was only achievable through functional polytechnic education.

He, however, expressed regret that the federal and state governments have not been paying serious attentions to polytechnic education.

Babatubde described as  'worrisome' the state of polytechnic education in the country, especially those owned by the state.

He specifically mentioned the state-owned polytechnics in Kwara, Ondo and Ogun as some of those suffering from avoidable decay.

Other grievances, he disclosed, included alleged refusal of most state governments to implement the approved new salary scale for polytechnic teachers and the 65 years retirement age'.

Babatunde also mentioned alleged 'imposition of professors from outside the polytechnic sector as rectors' and 'the need for the commencement of the Needs Assessment of Nigerian Polytechnics so as not to allow the sector to collapse totally.'