Provost of Federal College of Education (Technical) Akoka, Lagos, Dr Wahab Ademola, has expressed worries over the decreasing number of candidates seeking admission to study education courses in universities in the country.
According to the Provost, something must be done fast, particularly by the government and the university leadership, to address the concern – moreso, that the country is faced with shortage of qualified and competent teachers in schools.
The provost made this submission at the matriculation ceremony of the 2022\2023 set of students admitted by the college for degree programmes in affiliation with the University of Benin (UNIBEN).
He said since the college has been running the degree programmes with the university, the number of students admitted in each academic session has not been this low across disciplines.
Giving statistics, he said only 249 students in all, composed of 87 for 100-Level and the rest for 200-Level gained admission this year across various courses in both technical and vocational study areas.
He said the number was far lower than those of the previous years.
The provost said the UNIBEN leadership would need to look into the matter and do something to encourage many more qualified youths to apply for education courses.
He said it is expected that any country that wants to grow and develop its economy appreciably must have to invest hugely in the production of well-trained teachers that would in turn train highly skilled manpower across fields.
He congratulated the matriculants on their academic pursuits and urged them to give their studies and other lawful engagements a deserved priority.
In her own remarks, the Vice-Chancellor of UNIBEN, Prof Lilian Salami informed the new students that the quality of training they would receive at FCET is similar to the ones obtainable by their mates on UNIBEN campus in Benin City and other reputable universities elsewhere globally.
