The Role of Vocational and Technical Education in Skill Acquisition in Nigeria

Abstract

The paper discussed the role played by vocational technical education in relation to skill acquisition. It clearly described it as an education that emphasised the acquisition of practical and manipulative skills in addition to the moral training for building a useful citizen. It continued with a step backward to the development of vocational education during the colonial and pre colonial era, during that time the type of skill acquired was not as systematic as that of today but was effective because it save the purpose it was meant for. Our formal system of skill acquisition today is critised for ineffectiveness. And was among the factors that were responsible for the failure of most government programmes aimed at either poverty reduction, job creation, wealth and employment generation etc. Lastly the paper discussed the problems that lead to the ineffectiveness of the skills acquired, that was tied around poor funding, and finally possible solutions to the problems was also discussed.

Key words: skill acquisition, vocational technical education.