ODAHIEKWU OGUNDE, Yenagoa
The Governor of Bayelsa State, Senator Douye Diri, has advocated the introduction of a seminar system for academic performance evaluation and award of degrees in tertiary institutions in the country.
Diri made the submission while speaking as the Visitor to the International Institute of Tourism and Hospitality along the Opolo/AIT Road in Yenagoa during the institution’s maiden matriculation at the weekend.
The Governor, represented by his deputy, Senator Lawrence Ewhrudjakpo, said no education system could turn out thorough-bred and knowledgeable graduates by solely depending on the results of periodic examinations to award degrees and other academic qualifications.
He, therefore, made a case for the Nigerian education system to borrow a leaf from the Western models, where seminar presentations are used as the main criteria for academic performance evaluation and award of degrees.
Diri maintained that because of the rot in the Nigerian education system over the years, the country now boasts of a lot of graduates with all classes of certificates without the requisite knowledge to back up such qualifications, stressing that it was high time the system was modified.
He said: “I want to encourage us today, that we must take the issue of our education and the standards we set for it very seriously. We must set high standards because the education we have today is still too primordial.
“We must move forward. More often than not, we still rely on examinations to determine the capacity of our students. I think the Nigerian universities and other tertiary institutions should start inching out of that cauldron.
“We can’t remain in that cauldron and believe that we are bringing out well educated people. What most of our students do, is to prepare for, write and then pass their examinations. And that is the only thing they acquire.
“I believe we should adopt the seminar system of education, where students are exposed to seminars and present papers. Because for any seminar they present, there is a retained or reserved knowledge because of the research they must have conducted.”
Diri, who applauded his predecessor, Senator Seriake Dickson, for his foresight in setting up the institute, called on its management to distinguish themselves by not compromising high academic standards in the institute.
He also called on the matriculating students to wholly apply themselves to their studies, saying “pleasure and studies are not compatible in the academic life of a student.”
Diri reassured the management of the Institute that his administration would fully support their programmes, saying that the state had taken steps to carve a niche for itself in the tourism industry.
Speaking earlier as chairman of the occasion, the Commissioner for Culture and Tourism, Dr Iti Orugbani, thanked the Governor for providing the enabling environment for the institute to thrive.
Orugbani, who highlighted that the Tourism Institute now runs national diploma programmes, encouraged the matriculants to imbibe perseverance, hard work, humility and dedication to their studies to come out in flying colours at the end of their academic programmes at the institute.
In his welcome address, the Rector of the institute, Prof. Apuega Arikawei, remarked that the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) granted operational licence to the institute in 2021.
Apuega, who expressed gratitude on behalf of the institute to the Governor for his untiring efforts and commitment to educational development in the state, disclosed that the institution had been enlisted by JAMB and the Industrial Training Fund (ITF).