RECTOR of Abia State College of Education (Technical), Arochukwu, Dr. Chris Nwamuo, is routing for the institution to be allowed to run degree programmes to avoid its facilities going into ruin due to non-enrolment of students for National Certificate of Education (NCE) programme.

During a recent inspection tour of the institution, he noted that the college has excess lecturers surplus to requirement than students because most students seeking admission into tertiary institutions have a preference for direct degree courses than opting for the National Certificate of Education (NCE) programme.

He, therefore, canvassed for an enabling law to allow the institution operate a multi-campus structure, which according to him would enable the college attract more intervention funds and projects, especially from the Education Trust Fund (ETF).

“My dream for this college is for it to become a fully autonomous degree awarding institution. This college has qualified academic staff in excess and presently has only 2,500 students despite its carrying capacity of 3,000 students for each level.

“By the time the law is modified allowing us to operate a multi-campus programme, many of the facilities we have will be put to its best use because we would attract students from far and wide.

“So many items have been donated for the benefit of students, which is just lying waste and gathering dust. One of these is a 120 set of computers and furniture for our computer laboratory, but the facility is just lying idle because there are no students to put them to use, while ETF grant would have made us build a befitting edifice to house the computers and properly maintain the equipment,” he said.

The college is presently affiliated to Abia State University but not enabled to run degree courses, though its graduates are enrolled for the mandatory National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.

The low enrolment rate at the college means the state-owned institution depend mostly on school fees and government subventions for funds, while its Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) is insignificant.