STSB · SCIENCE, TECHNICAL AND VOCATIONAL

Science and Technical Schools Board, Kano State

Eighteen science secondary schools, fourteen government technical colleges and eight vocational centres — 38,400 students learning in laboratories and workshops rather than in ordinary classrooms.

What the Board is responsible for

The State's science and technical estate: science secondary schools, government technical colleges, vocational and skills-acquisition centres. The Board runs the Trade Test series with the National Business and Technical Examinations Board, equips laboratories and workshops, and places technical graduates into apprenticeship and further training.

STSB is the oldest of the boards, established in 1978 when it became clear that laboratories, workshops, consumables and trade instructors could not be managed on the same model as an ordinary secondary school. A chemistry laboratory needs reagents every term; a welding workshop needs gas, rods and safety equipment; a trade instructor is recruited from industry, not from a college of education.

The estate has two halves. The science secondary schools are selective boarding schools that admit on the Qualifying Examination and prepare candidates for WASSCE and NECO in the sciences. The technical colleges and vocational centres run trade programmes leading to the National Technical Certificate and the State Trade Test, in partnership with the national business and technical examinations board.

STSB at a glance

Institutions

18 science secondary, 14 technical, 8 vocational

38,400

Students

Senior secondary and trade programmes

2,100

Teachers and instructors

Including trade instructors from industry

1978

Established

The oldest of the eight boards

How STSB is organised

Two tiers only. The estate is small and specialised enough to be managed directly from the Board.

Board Headquarters, Kofar Nassarawa — Sets admission quotas, equips laboratories and workshops, recruits trade instructors and runs the Trade Test series. The Executive Secretary and the Director of Technical and Vocational Education sit here.
Technical Colleges · Science Secondary Schools · Vocational Centres — The Board manages its institutions directly rather than through zones, because there are few of them and each has specialist requirements. A principal reports to the Board headquarters.

The trades taught, and what they lead to

Technical college programmes run for three years to Trade 3; vocational centre programmes are short skills courses of three to nine months.

Trade	Where taught	Duration	Certificate
Auto-mechanics and light engineering	Government technical colleges, Wudil and Bichi	3 years	National Technical Certificate and State Trade Test, Grades I to III
Electrical installation and maintenance	All fourteen technical colleges	3 years	National Technical Certificate and State Trade Test
Welding and metal fabrication	Technical colleges, Wudil, Gaya and Kano	3 years	National Technical Certificate and State Trade Test
Block-laying, bricklaying and concreting	All fourteen technical colleges	3 years	National Technical Certificate and State Trade Test
Carpentry and joinery	Technical colleges, Bichi, Rano and Kano	3 years	National Technical Certificate
Plumbing and pipe-fitting	Technical colleges, Kano and Wudil	3 years	National Technical Certificate
Computer craft studies	All fourteen technical colleges and 420 school ICT centres	3 years	National Technical Certificate
Solar installation and maintenance	Vocational and skills centres	6 months	State Vocational Certificate
Tailoring and garment making	Vocational and skills centres	9 months	State Vocational Certificate
Catering and craft practice	Vocational and skills centres	6 months	State Vocational Certificate

What STSB actually delivers

Six functions that distinguish a technical estate from an ordinary school system.

Science secondary intake

Selective, boarding

Admits into SS 1 on the highest Qualifying Examination scores, with a quota reserved for girls and for candidates from educationally disadvantaged local government areas.

Laboratory equipping

Annually

Supplies reagents, glassware and apparatus each term, and refits laboratories under the equipment window of the education trust fund.

Workshop consumables

Termly

Gas, rods, timber, cable, pipe and safety equipment, without which a trade programme is a theory class. Consumables are charged at cost to trade students.

Trade testing

May to June

Runs the Technical Trade Test with the national business and technical examinations board in 22 centres, at Grades I, II and III.

Apprenticeship placement

On completion

Places technical and vocational graduates with employers and workshops across the State for supervised practice, and tracks where they end up.

Instructor recruitment

Continuous

Recruits trade instructors from industry rather than from teaching, and puts them through pedagogy training with the Directorate of Teacher Development.

Who leads STSB

The executive head answers to the Honourable Commissioner for Education through the Permanent Secretary. Formal correspondence should name the school and the local government area concerned.

Engr. Sanusi Bala Kabo

Executive Secretary, Science and Technical Schools Board, Kano State

B.Sc (Ed) Technical Education

A registered engineer who began in workshop practice at a government technical college and has led the Board since 2022. He drives its partnership with employers on apprenticeship placement for trade graduates.

stsb@moe.kn.gov.ng

Malama Bilkisu Garba Tofa

Director, Technical & Vocational Education

M.Ed (Vocational Education)

Responsible for the vocational centres and the short skills programmes, including the drive to raise female enrolment in trades beyond the present 18 per cent. She sits on the State Trade Test panel.

Questions students and parents ask STSB

How does a child get into a science secondary school?

On the Qualifying Examination sat in the first week of July at the end of JSS 3. Science secondary schools select first, from the highest scores, and admission is boarding. A quota is reserved for girls and for candidates from the educationally disadvantaged local government areas, so the cut-off is not identical across the State.

What does a technical college cost?

Tuition is free. A trade student pays the approved laboratory and workshop charge, trade materials at cost, and the boarding charge if boarding. The full approved schedule is published on this site and nothing outside it may be collected. The Trade Test entry fee falls due once, in Trade 3.

Is a National Technical Certificate as good as WASSCE?

They do different work. The NTC certifies a trade and is what an employer or a polytechnic looks for in a technical field; WASSCE is the general senior school certificate. Technical college students may sit both, and many do. A trade certificate holder who later wants a university place normally adds the WASSCE subjects required for admission.

Can an adult enrol in a vocational centre?

Yes. The vocational and skills centres run short courses of three to nine months in tailoring, welding, catering, solar installation, ICT and block-laying, open to adults and to young people who have left school. Enrol at the centre with proof of identity; there is no entrance examination.

What happens after a trade programme?

The Board places graduates with employers and workshops for supervised practice and tracks the placements. Graduates may also proceed to a polytechnic or to a Grade I trade test, which is the qualification that lets a tradesman take work under the State's own contracts.

Where to find STSB

Admission enquiries need the Qualifying Examination number; trade enquiries need the college or centre name.

Headquarters: STSB Secretariat, Kofar Nassarawa, Kano
Telephone: +234 703 882 4527
Email: stsb@moe.kn.gov.ng
Counter hours: Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 16:00
Trade Test entries and results: through the college principal
Vocational short courses: enrol directly at the nearest skills centre

Science, technical and vocational places

See the technical estate in the school register, or read how the Qualifying Examination selects for science and technical places.

Technical schools STEM programme