The Federal Government has vowed to address the gender gap that exists in the National Business and Technical Examinations.
Prof. Tahir Mamman, Minister of Education, stated this while monitoring examinations conducted by the National Business and Technical Examinations Board (NABTEB) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Mamman stated that the ministry was implementing skills training in schools ranging from basic to postsecondary education, and that schools would be required to execute the initiatives.
“We have a lot of policies and measures to foster female participation in technical courses.
“I have been in the university and I know how the numbers are growing rapidly in engineering, environmental sciences, medical and allied courses, the ladies are practically taking over .
“For us in the ministry, there are programmes already in place that is supporting the boasting of female education and I believe in no distance time we will see overall parity closing completely.
“Once the skill programme is adopted, all schools will be bound to implement it and it’s going to be a game changer,” he said.
He encouraged students to participate in skill-building programmes in order to address quality and employment issues.
He emphasised that once pupils had acquired skills, they would be ready to be hired by companies.
He also informed the students that the issue of affording their university education was over, asking them to take use of the government’s recently implemented scholarship system to fund their studies.
Prof. Ifeoma Isiugo-Abanihe, Registrar of NABTEB, stated that societal attitudes was the root cause of limited female involvement in technical education.
Isiugo-Abanihe stated that there had been enlightenment campaigns in place, emphasising the necessity of skills as a top priority in developing the country’s middle class.
She, therefore, said that there was a slight increase in the number of candidates that registered for the exams as 67,751candidate took part in the 2024 conduct .
“It is the societal attitude, we don’t have as many girls as you are seeing here. In this school, you have over 100 boys and 31 girls.
“There is gender gap in the percentage of female participation in technical schools but it’s coming up.
“What we are seeing today is not what we used to see before.
“The female lady mechanics and the rest were not there before, so I am hopeful that there is going to be improvement,” she said.
According to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), the examination began on June 24 and is scheduled to end on July 29, 2024. It was monitored at the Federal Science and Technical College in Garki.