When I took my car to the mechanic today to have my brake linen replaced, I was amused while listening to sidetalks by the mechanics.
What started the interesting sidetalks I'm about to share with you was when we sighted a group of lecturers and students from Katsina Youth Craft Village. They were going round the large garage to monitor and supervise some of their students posted on apprenticeship.
The school was established by Katsina State Government to train youths on various vocations so that they can become self reliant and be gainfully employed after graduating. This is aimed at reducing unemployment in the society.
The mechanics looked at the students contemptuously and began to narrate their experiences and observations about some of the graduates of the school. They claimed that most of them never learned anything after graduating and couldn't even do what they were taught.
One of the mechanics told a story of how one of the mechanics in the garage enrolled for a diploma program in the State Polytechnic to study Electrical Engineering (Automobile) and ended up teaching both his classmates and the lecturer when it came to practicals. The lecturer confessed to him that he had never seen a brainbox in his life! And some of the students said they had never been taught practicals with a real car! That all their practicals were done theoretically!
One of the mechanics attending to my car was an NCE graduate who studied Hausa/Islamic studies. But because he couldn't get a job, he went to the garage and learned how to repair cars. And he assured me that he was better than most of the students who graduated with a diploma!