21st August, 2014
JETHRO IBILEKE/Benin
Prompted by the urgent need to prepare and empower secondary school leavers for the harsh economic realities in the country, the National Business and Technical Examination Board, (NABTEB), said it would collaborate with public and private secondary schools across the country to promote skill acquisition and make more Nigerian students employable after graduation.
Registrar and Chief Executive of the NABTEB, Dr. Olatunde Aworanti, made this known Thursday in Benin during a sensitization workshop organized for principals and proprietors of over 300 private and secondary schools in the state.
“The need for all school leavers to be equipped with survival skills that will enable them cope with emerging challenges of the current technological age cannot be over-emphasized.
“Therefore, I invite principals of secondary schools nationwide to key into the quest to make the nation’s students employable and globally competitive after their graduation from secondary and tertiary levels of education by enrolling them for NABTEB examinations,” Aworanti said.
Aworanti who disclosed that the initiative had been successfully applied in Ghana to revamp its economy, urged managers of secondary education in the state to play a complementary role by integrating vocational and technical subjects into their school curricular.
He pledged the support of the Board to certify secondary school leavers in basic trades, through its various certificate examinations, in order make them economically self-reliant and help in reducing youth restiveness in Nigeria.
Also speaking at the event, the Edo State Commissioner for Higher Education, Barrister Washington Usifo, commended the Board for extending it programmes to secondary education.
He also pledged the support of the state government towards their implementation.