Pains, gains of industrial training

The Students Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES), otherwise known as Industrial Training (IT), is compulsory for students of higher institution, especially the in science, social science and engineering fields. In many schools, it is a requisite for award of academic certificates.

For sciences and engineering students, SIWES is inevitable. Before they graduate, they are required to be exposed to industrial practice to complement the theoretical training they get in school. They must undertake industrial attachment between three months and one year.

In the course of the training, they are exposed to various techniques in their fields. For some, the exercise is worthwhile, for others, it is a misadventure they never wish to repeat. This is because of the almost free service they render during the period.

To ensure compliance with objectives of the scheme and make it stress-free for the trainees, the Federal Government established Industrial Training Fund (ITF) to pay a fixed stipend to the students. But, the stipend does not come until years after the trainees would have completed the exercise.

Some may not receive the money even after they graduate; others, who are lucky, are paid before leaving school. Since ITF is statutorily required to support the students throughout the period, most companies where students undergo the training do not want to pay them. Some pay token to appreciate the trainees.

However, it is a different stroke for different folks. While some students believe their IT period is worthwhile because of the experiences they garner, others think it is a complete waste of time.

Does SIWES have any benefit? Olusola Motunrayo, a 400-Level Microbiology student of Crescent University in Lafenwa, Ogun State said it was during the period she was taught latest techniques she could not have learnt in classroom. Olusola underwent industrial attachment at the Badagry General Hospital in Lagos.

She, however, decried the non-payment of the IT allowance, which she said could erode the objectives of the scheme.

For Dauda Salihu, a 300-Level Applied Chemistry student of the Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto (UDUS), SIWES period afforded him a lifetime opportunity. He benefitted from Health and Safety training at the firm he underwent his attachment. This could have cost him thousands of naira should he be asked to pay for the free training.

“I gained a lot of experience during my industrial training. In fact, I had the privilege to attend a free training on Health and Safety sponsored by the company. We were given certificates at the end; this could have cost me fortunes if I were to pay,” Dauda said.

Khadijah Aliyu, a 400-Level Science student at Bells University of Technology in Otta, Ogun State urged the government to reduce the working hours of the trainees, since they are not paid for the service they rendered.

She said: “I will advise that the working hours of IT students be reduced. We should not be subjected to hours of work as salary earners.”

Trainees can get jobs through SIWES, Ismail Adebayo, a student of The Polytechnic, Ibadan (IBADAN POLY), said.

But for Olufunmi Oloyede, a graduate of Biochemistry at Igbinedion University in Okada, Edo State, the scheme should be scrapped.

She described her SIWES period as “bad experience”, saying: “I started my IT at a federal research agency but we were never allowed to do anything. It was so bad that some of the staff brought clothes from home for the IT students to press. I left there for another government agency, where I had to pay about N30,000 to be given a placement.”

SIWES is a waste of time and resources, says Christiana Ajigah, a 400-Level Chemistry student of the Federal University of Agriculture in Abeokuta (FUNAAB), Ogun State.

She said ITF supervisors hardly visited students at their place of assignment, which is why, she said, many students never undergo the training.

“They write fake reports in their log books and get away with it. The supervisors never visit. Even when they do, they never ask the right question apart from wanting to know how much students are being paid by companies. We should not be allowed to go through unnecessary stress in search of places of attachment,” Christiana said.

For some, the SIWES period is a time to make money. This notion is common among students of polytechnics, who undergo the one-year compulsory training. The students apply for placements where they take up jobs that do not correlate with their courses of study. Their aim is only to get salary. It is common to see an engineering students working in banks during the SIWES.

Adeola Oni, an ND student of the Osun State Polytechnic (OSPOLY), Iree, defended the students, saying the economic situation of the country led them into the act.

“It happens that some students pay their fees0 and they might not want to go back to school empty-handed, which is why many students want to earn salary rather than undergoing the training,” she said.

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