National Association of Academic Technologists (NAAT) has rejected the Core Curriculum Minimum Academic Standards (CCMAS) designed by the National Universities Commission (NUC). The association took the decision at its 52nd National Executive Council (NEC) meeting.
NAAT said the CCMAS document under review was prepared and circulated without any input from its members, who are critical stakeholders in Nigeria’s university system and therefore remains an aberration capable of destroying the values of academic programmes in the area of laboratory, workshop, studio or research farm practices.
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According to NAAT national president, Comrade Ibeji Nwokoma who briefed journalists at the end of the council meeting in Kano, the association observed obvious errors of omission and commission as contained in the current CCMAS document under review, especially on page 70 under engineering and technology which is similar for all other disciplines. Nwokoma called for the immediate withdrawal of the CCMAS document from circulation.
He said, “We observed that going by the document in reference, the name of academic technologists was conspicuously omitted: technologists’ jobs were assigned to academics support personnel, who are alien to the university system, as if to add salt to injury, this non existing staff are also being recommended to be engaged as temporary staff according to the CCMAS document under review (pages 70-. 117)
“We also noted that, contrary to the existing provision of minimum office space for academic technologists in the NUC document, no provision was made under the draft CCMAS.
“Based on the foregoing. it is clear that necessary consultations and inputs from stakeholders in the university education system of which NAAT is one has not been done on the basis of these, we as a body of academic technologists strongly reject the said CCMAS document and call for its immediate withdrawal from circulation,” he added.
NAAT also frowned at the decision of the federal government to dissolve the governing councils of all federal government owned institutions of higher learning in the country and asked the federal government to consider giving grants especially for indigent ones as a viable alternative to students’ loan.