Female Participation in Technical, Vocational Education and Training in Nigeria: Yaba College of Technology as a Case Study

  • Omokungbe Obafemi Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria
  • Doherty Funmilayo Yaba College of Technology, Lagos, Nigeria
Keywords: YCT, Gender Parity, TVET, STEM, Female Participation

Abstract

In recent times, there has been a global rise in the consciousness of the impact of gender issues in education and national development. Despite the documented benefits to economic and social development of women and the constitutional guarantee for equal rights under the law to all citizens, the advancement of the status of women in Nigeria is still far from satisfactory. Elimination of gender disparity at all levels of education is one of the major global goals in the pursuit of sustainable development. This paper therefore aims to analyze the pattern of gender enrolment in Nigerian polytechnics with a focus on Yaba College of Technology (YCT) for five academic sessions. Data was collected from the Center for Information Technology Management, YCT and from relevant publications. Findings reveal that there has been improvement in few polytechnics including Yaba College of Technology (YCT), however, there exists disparity in favour of males in engineering programmes. Analysis of gender enrolment status in YCT shows that the Gender Parity Index (GPI) increased from 0.72 in 2014/2015 to 0.85 in 2018/2019 academic session. It was observed that female enrolments increased for higher national diploma for the same courses with low participation in national diploma and a generally low participation of females in the STEM programmes was observed but with improvement in industrial maintenance engineering, computer science, physics, and statistics. GPI analysis indicated that parity had been reached for chemistry, physics with electronics, statistics, and agricultural extension and management programmes in YCT. Mainstreaming the gender perspective in all policy planning, implementation and evaluation activities is necessary at bridging gender inequality in the educational sector so as to fully explore the competence, experience and potential of women.

Article Views and Downloands Counter


Download data is not yet available.

References

Abudulahi, E. N. (2016). Technical vocational education and trammg (TVET) in Nigeria: Issues and suggestions for productivity and sustainable national
development. International Journal of Research in Education. 10( 1 ), 30-49.

Agu, N. N., & Omenyi, A. S. (2013). Gender enrolment status in higher education courses: A situation assessment and analysis of a South Eastern Federal
University. Journal of Emerging Trends in Educational Research and Policy Studies (JETERAPS) 4(3): 517-524

Akinsowon, 0. A., & Osisanwo, F. Y. (2014). Enhancing interest in sciences, technology and mathematics (STEM) for the Nigerian female folk. International Journal of Information Science, 4(1), 8-12.

Akor, R., Bakar, A. B., Hamzah, A. B. H., & Rashid, A. B. M. (2015). Exploring how Nigerian women foster action to be taken to involve more women participation in
technical and vocational education. International Journal of Education & Literacy Studies. 3 (1).

National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). (2011). Digest of Statistics. [Online.] Available url: www.nbte.gov.ng.

National Board for Technical Education (NBTE). (2013). Brief on NBTE gender desk. Kaduna, Nigeria

National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) (2015). Digest of Statistics of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Institutions in Nigeria: 2014/2015.
Volume 5.

National Bureau of Statistic, (2015). http://education.gov.ng/wpcontent/uploads/2019/05/Student- Enrolment-by-Geo­ Political -Zones-and-Gender-2014-2015.pdf (retrieved March 2, 2020)

National Bureau of Statistic, (2018) http://education.gov .ng/wpontent/uploads/2019 I 10/WAEC _RESULTS_ STATISTICS_ 2016-2018.pdf (retrieved March 2, 2020)

National Bureau of Statistics, NBS. (2008). Survey of Employment Status: 2006. Available url:www.nigerianstat.gov.ng/.

NUCHEP. (2004) National Universities Curriculum on Activities of Discipline in the Universities in Nigeria.

Okwelle, P. C. (2010). Strategies for improving enrolment into technical teacher education programmes through students' involvement in public relations activities. Niger Delta Journal of Education. 2(1&2), 57-63.

Okwelle, P. C. & Okeke, B. C. (2016). An overview of the role of technical vocational education and training (TVET) in nation development. African Journal of
Historical Sciences in Education. 12(1), 16-32.

Okwelle, P. C. & Agwi, V. I. A. (2018). Strategies for improving female students' enrolment in Technical and Vocational Education programmes through public
relations activities in Nigeria. International Journal of Advanced Academic Research. 4: 1

Oludayo, O. A., Popoola, S., Akanbi, C.O., Atayero, A.A. (2019). Gender disparity in admissions into tertiary institutions: Empirical evidence from Nigerian data (2010-2015). Data in Brief 22(2019) 920-933

Opatoyinbo, O O. & Babatunte, 0. A. (2016). Comparative Analysis of Gender Disparity Enrolment in Surveying Training in Tertiary Institutions. Nigeria. FIG
Working Week. Recovery from Disaster, Christchurch, New Zealand.

Opatoyinbo, 0. 0., Bartholomew, P. N. & Mado-Alabi, C.A. (2015). An Assessment of Female Enrolment in Nigeria's Technical Education System. A paper presented at Commonwealth Association of Polytechnics in Africa (CAPA) Conference in Golden Bean Hotel, Kumasi, Ghana. 7th - 11th December, 2015

Schultz, T.P (2002). Why Governments should invest more to educate women. World Development. 30 (2): 207-225

UNESCO Institute of Statistics (UIS) Fact Sheet. (2010). No. 4 Gender Parity in Primary and Secondary Education.

UNESCO (1995). World Education Report, UNESCO, Paris. www.yabatech.edu.ng
Published
2021-02-14
How to Cite
Obafemi, O., & Funmilayo, D. (2021). Female Participation in Technical, Vocational Education and Training in Nigeria: Yaba College of Technology as a Case Study. Africa Journal of Technical and Vocational Education and Training, 6(1), 15-25. Retrieved from https://afritvet.org/index.php/Afritvet/article/view/119