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THE ROLE OF THE SCHOOL MANAGEMENT TEAM IN IMPLEMENTING NATIONAL POLICY ON EDUCATION FOR SCHOOL DEVELOPMENT
ABSTRACT
This study investigated the management of education in primary schools in Rivers State, Nigeria. As a correlation research, the study population comprised all the 694 primary schools in the State. Out of this, a sample of 320 schools was selected through the process of purposive and stratified random sampling. The instrument used to collect data for the study was a questionnaire which consisted of questions pertinent to the study. The data collected were analyzed using the t-test, correlation analysis and multiple regression. The findings show that the level of management of primary schools in the State was low and ineffective. Human resources were better managed than physical resources in the schools while small schools were found to be more effectively managed than large schools. Rural schools were also more effectively managed than urban schools while years of teaching experience show significant relationship with effective management of schools. It was however, found that there was a low level usage of certain management tools by school head teachers. Based on these finding, it was recommended that head teachers should be exposed to seminars and workshops to equip them with modern tools and techniques of management while the State Ministry of Education and the State Primary Education Board should intensify more efforts at regular supervision and monitoring of schools for effective management.
Education in Nigeria is overseen by the Ministry of Education. And the local authorities take responsibility for implementing policy for state-controlled public education and state schools at a regional level. The education system is divided into Kindergarten, primary education, primary education and tertiary education.
This paper highlights some crucial issues that could affect the effectiveness of the management of primary education in Nigeria. The issues among other raised include, policy, funding, data and institutional capacity building gaps. The paper concludes by making some possible suggestions on how to tackle these issues and problems both in the far and near future.
Primary education, in the geographical entity that is referred to presently as Nigeria, was 164 years old early this year. Before independence, the system was administered by different sets of managers including the Christian missionaries (1843-1882), the colonial government (1882-1940’s) and the regional governments (1950’s). Since, independence in 1960, the federal, state and local governments have played significant role in the administration of primary education. Poor administration has been the bane of the education system since inception. It is displayed in different ugly forms including poor timing of policy inauguration and programme implementation and pupil population explosion with the attendant result of dearth of educational resources. Statistical constraint, financial constraint and political constraint have contributed to the problem of poor management. For the system to survive, there is the need on the part of the nation to ensure political stability. It is only, when the polity is stable and all the tiers of government display the necessary political will that all the 3 constraints will be taken care of once and for all. The system will thus be invigorated and made fully prepared for the challenges in the future.
CHAPTER ONE
1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
There is no gainsaying the fact that education is very vital to the pace of social, political and economic development of any nation. This is why most nations of the world strive to devote a sizeable proportion of their Gross National Income to develop the educational sector. In Nigeria, between 7.6% and 9.9% of our annual expenditure is devoted to education. Management of primary education refers to the process of planning, organizing, directing, staffing, coordinating, budgeting for and reporting on primary education system.
Primary education in Nigeria refers to the education which children receive from the age of 6 years to 11 years plus. It is the foundation level of the educational system which runs for six years, and it is aimed at developing basic literacy, numeracy, communication skills and transmission of the culture of the people to younger generations. Information gathered through the education data bank shows that as at 1998, there were 41,814 primary schools with an enrolment of 16,348,324 (13.75% of these were females) and 468,770 teachers (26.45%) of these were non-qualified teachers). The teacher/pupil ratio at the level was 1:38 while the completion rate was 64.1 percent and the transition rate of products to Junior Primary Education level was 39.1 percent. The structure of our population in Nigeria is such that about 45% of the people are within the age bracket of six to twelve years. According to the provisions of National Policy on Education, this is the corresponding age group for primary education.
Obviously, the enrolment pattern in the educational system follows the pyramidal structure of the nation’s population distribution. The primary level has the largest enrolment, followed by the primary level and then the tertiary level. This enrolment structure, no doubt, depicts the structure of our social demand for the various levels of education. The primary education level, being the bedrock of the child’s basic education, is a very vital aspect of the nation’s educational system that deserves to be handled with great care and caution. Any error committed in the organization and management of this level of education may reverberate on other levels and thus seriously mar the lives of the people and indeed the overall development of the nation. This is one good reason why all the stakeholders must show enough concern for those issues that concern the organizing and managing of our primary education system.
This paper presents a humble attempt to highlight some contemporary issues and problems facing the organization and management of primary education in Nigeria with a view to proffering possible solutions to them.
Primary education is very important in the Nigerian education system. It is the oldest system. Its history, in the geographical entity that is now known as Nigeria, dates back to 164 years ago, precisely 1843. It is 16 years, about 9 decades and at least a century older than primary education, the Higher College, Yaba, the first known institution of higher learning, whose all departments were sited at one location and pre-primary education, respectively. Also, no other level comes close to primary education in terms of clientele. As at December 1996, there were 48,242 primary schools. Total 16,761,591 pupils attended these. Total 14,796,074 of them were in government or public institutions and the rest, 1,965,517, were in private schools (Gidado, 1997). By 2003, the number of primary schools had increased to 74,982 (The Universal Basic Education Commission, 2004).
In addition, primary education is the only link between pre-primary education and primary education systems. It takes in successful beneficiaries of the former and supplies entrants into the latter. But more importantly, it is generally regarded as the very foundation upon which the other strata of the educational edifice are built. Granted that pre-primary education is a level below primary education, it is not considered as the foundation. This is because pre-primary education is available only in big towns and enjoyed by few children whose parents could afford the high fees and other charges demanded by the private proprietors. Besides, primary education is the first level of the nation 6-3-3-4 education system i.e., 6, 3, 3 and 4 years of primary education, junior primary education, senior primary education and university education, respectively.
Primary education, in the Nigerian education system, is very old, has the highest patronage and occupies a very important position. Uninterestingly, however, it is a weak system resulting from poor administration.
Primary education is very important in the Nigerian education system. It is the oldest system. Its history, in the geographical entity that is now known as Nigeria, dates back to 164 years ago, precisely 1843. It is 16 years, about 9 decades and at least a century older than primary education, the Higher College, Yaba, the first known institution of higher learning, whose all departments were sited at one location and pre-primary education, respectively. Also, no other level comes close to primary education in terms of clientele. As at December 1996, there were 48,242 primary schools. Total 16,761,591 pupils attended these. Total 14,796,074 of them were in government or public institutions and the rest, 1,965,517, were in private schools (Gidado, 1997). By 2003, the number of primary schools had increased to 74,982 (The Universal Basic Education Commission, 2004).
In addition, primary education is the only link between pre-primary education and primary education systems. It takes in successful beneficiaries of the former and supplies entrants into the latter. But more importantly, it is generally regarded as the very foundation upon which the other strata of the educational edifice are built. Granted that pre-primary education is a level below primary education, it is not considered as the foundation. This is because pre-primary education is available only in big towns and enjoyed by few children whose parents could afford the high fees and other charges demanded by the private proprietors. Besides, primary education is the first level of the nation’s 6-3-3-4 education system i.e., 6, 3, 3 and 4 years of primary education, junior primary education, senior primary education and university education, respectively. Primary education, in the Nigerian education system, is very old, has the highest patronage and occupies a very important position. Uninterestingly, however, it is a weak system resulting from poor administration.
1.2 PROBLEM OF THE STUDY
Management of primary education in Nigeria can hardly be given a pass mark is spite of all the efforts put up all these long decades. The first set of managers, the missionaries, could not accomplish much as evangelization was their goal. During the time, the management of the system was rather shoddy with the attendant result of poor quality of education.
Uninterestingly, however, poor administration is still a problem. This fact has been acknowledged openly by the nation rulers during their tenure in office. While, inaugurating the National Primary Education Commission in 1989, General Ibrahim Babangida agreed that poor management was part of what led to the collapse of the 1976 free Universal Primary Education scheme (The Guardian, 1989). In the same vein, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo remarked, at the launching of the Universal Basic Education, that a number of unexpected and preventable problems made the Universal Primary Education of 1976 a programme that could not continue or last for a long time (The Guardian, 1999).
Poor administration is noticed in different ways. One of them is poor timing of policy inauguration and programme implementation. A case that readily comes to mind is that of the timing of the implementation of the free Universal Primary Education programme and the National Policy on Education. Ideally, a policy should first be in place before the implementation of an educational programme. But this was not the case as regards the inauguration of the UPE, a scheme believed to be the biggest of its kind in the continent and the launching of the National Policy on Education through which the scheme was managed. The exercise was carried out anti-clockwise, so to say. The policy came out in 1977, whereas, the UPE programme was launched in a hurry a year earlier.
Pupil population explosion is another way of showing poor administration. The free Universal Primary Education scheme launched by the regional governments, for instance, was not a story of full success. In Western Region, 547,760 pupils showed up to be taught in class I whereas the government planned for just 170,000 persons. The situation was even worse in the Eastern Region. The same experience was had during the launching of the UPE scheme in 1976. Whereas, it was projected that 2,300,000 6 years old would be admitted to primary class I at the commencement of the programme, 3,000,000 children actually appeared. This was 30% underestimation.
Naturally, the attendant result of pupil population explosion is inadequacy of educational resources. A decade after the federal government started the free UPE scheme and the full involvement of the local government in its administration; a one-time Minister of Education and Youth Development, Aminu (1986), presented this deeply shocking picture:
The problem was compounded the more by the inadequacy in quantity and quality of the most important resource-teachers. The number available was grossly insufficient to cope with the myriads of pupils. Besides, the quality of the teaching workforce on ground was poor outright. The government herself admitted, in 1977, that … a large number of our primary school teachers are below Grade II certificate or are untrained (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1978). The case of most of the teachers, who were ignorant as to the objectives of the system let alone knowing how to assist their pupils to achieve them, was like that of a blind leading the blind.
Many of the teachers in the system presently have Teachers’ Grade II Certificate through the distance-learning programme provided by the National Teachers’ Institute. According to Oni (1995) Anyone who has participated in the grading of the examination scripts of this crop of teachers will sympathize with the primary education system. . . . In not too distant future, all . . . will acquire the Nigeria Certificate in Education but whether they have benefited from the teacher education programme or not is another thing entirely.
Pupil population explosion is as a result of poor projection. Poor projection again, is caused by statistical deficiency. This is a major constraint.
There can be no doubt that when policy decisions are based on Incorrect figures, the anticipated quantitative targets can never be attained. For years, conduct of census has not been regular. Besides, on a number of occasions, the exercise had suffered from different difficulties including inadequate funds, manpower and uncooperative attitude of the citizenry when, they thought that it was a method devised by the government to have information for the purpose of taxation or they entertained the phobia of domination. Educational planners are thus handicapped when it comes to answering questions such as the number of children in the country presently or the number that will likely be each year in the years of the planning period.
Another major constraint is financial constraint. Inadequate financial resources had affected the supply of competent personnel and the provision of physical/material resources for the system almost since inception.
The missionaries could not accomplish much because the funds available to them were limited. Understandably, the colonial government introduced grants-in-aid system to assist any mission that applied. The 8-year free Universal Primary Education programme of the Eastern Regional Government in the 50’s failed due partly to inadequate financing. In the early part of 80’s, global oil crisis resulted in drop in national revenue and again took toll on the educational system. The Universal Primary Education scheme launched in 1976 too suffered major setback because the policy was conceived at a time Nigeria was a land flowing with milk and honey, but born during the period of serious economic recession.
The problem of funding the educational system in Rivers State, Nigeria has been a matter of concern to stakeholders in education[22,33]. The problem of pupils’ repeating a class for 1 or 2 years tends to constitute wastage in the system. This is in view of the fact that the space which could have been occupied by a new pupil would have to be retained for a repeater thereby siphoning more funds from government in terms of the continued teaching of the repeater in the same class for more than one year. Many reasons perhaps could be responsible for this development. Prominent among these reasons was perhaps the quality of teachers’ in the school system. The problem of this study therefore was to determine what influence teacher quality had on internal efficiency of primary schools in Rivers State, Nigeria?
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
1. To evaluate the management of primary schools in Nigeria especially Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
2. To know the strategies of managing primary schools in Nigeria especially Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
3. To assess the effort of government and community involvement in the management of primary schools in Nigeria.
4. To evaluate Nigeria primary education policy and its implication and efficiency in the management of primary schools in Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
5. To challenges and problems in the management of primary schools in Nigeria.
6. To recommend possible solution to the challenges and problems in the management of primary schools in Nigeria.
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTION
1. How can one evaluate the management of primary schools in Nigeria especially Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state?
2. What are the strategies of managing primary schools in Nigeria especially Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state?
3. What are the effort of government and community involvement in the management of primary schools in Nigeria?
4.Is Nigeria primary education policies efficiency in the management of primary schools in Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state?
What are the challenges and problems in the management of primary schools in Nigeria?
6. Are there possible solution to the challenges and problems in the management of primary schools in Nigeria?
1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
H0: One cannot evaluate the management of primary schools in Nigeria especially Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
H1: One can evaluate the management of primary schools in Nigeria especially Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
H0: There is no strategies of managing primary schools in Nigeria especially Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
H1: There is strategies of managing primary schools in Nigeria especially Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
H0: There are no efforts of government and community involvement in the management of primary schools in Nigeria.
H1: There are efforts of government and community involvement in the management of primary schools in Nigeria.
H0: There is no significant relationship between Nigeria primary education policies efficiency in the management of primary schools in Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
H1: There is a significant relationship between Nigeria primary education policies efficiency in the management of primary schools in Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state.
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
Some of the objective of primary education in Nigeria as stated in the National Policy of
Education (NPE, 1998: 17) are: Development and promotion of Nigerian languages, art and culture in the context of world cultural heritage. Inspire students with a desire for self improvement and achievement of excellence. Raise a generation of people who can think for themselves, respect the views and feelings of others, respect the dignity of labour, appreciate those values specified under our broad national goals and live as good citizens. Amongst such national goals is the full integration of the individual into the community; and better
human relationship, national unity as well as towards social, cultural, economic, political.
Scientific and technological development. These well stated objectives if achieved could
lead to scientific and technological development. Forty years after independent, Nigeria is in the
group of under-developed countries, characterized by increase in dropout rate from school at
all levels of the education system, rural urban migration, teenage girl involving themselves in
international prostitution, lack of respect for elders, teachers and school authority by studentss.
In assessing principals administrative effectiveness Oghuvbu (2000), focused on leadership,
supervision of institution and relationship with community, based on male and female teacher
perception. Also in assessing teachers effectiveness in Nigeria primary school Akpotu and
Oghuvbu (2004) focused on teachers, classroom attendance, competency in content and
pedagogy, relationship with students and disciplinary qualities based on primary school
students perception. A large percentage of the population that complains about poor quality of primary education is residents in various communities. These residents are the producers of school raw materials (children) and the consumers of the products of the schools. Since community residents are the immediate users and those who bear the positive and negative consequences of ineffective and inefficient primary school administration, this study is deigned to identify the significant role which community leaders can play in assisting
school administration in addressing this problem. Specially, the purpose of this paper is to
empirically test community’s assessment of primary school administration to ascertain the
perception of the general public on the quality of primary education in terms of production of
good quality, disciplined and skilled manpower for the labour market and students for tertiary
institutions.
- SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This reseach work is on assessment of primary school management in Obio/Akpor local government area of Rivers state. The researchers limited this work to Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state as the geographical limitation and have its content limitation .
1.8 LIMITATION OF STUDY
Despite the limited scope of this study certain constraints were encountered during the research of this project. Some of the constraints experienced by the researcher were given below:
i. TIME: This was a major constraint on the researcher during the period of the work. Considering the limited time given for this study, there was not much time to give this research the needed attention.
ii. FINANCE: Owing to the financial difficulty prevalent in the country and it’s resultant prices of commodities, transportation fares, research materials etc. The researcher did not find it easy meeting all his financial obligations.
iii. INFORMATION CONSTRAINTS: Nigerian researchers have never had it easy when it comes to obtaining necessary information relevant to their area of study from private business organization and even government agencies. Teachers in Obio/Akpor local government of Rivers state find it difficult to reveal their internal operations. The primary information was collected through face-to-face interview getting the published materials on this topic meant going from one library to other which was not easy.
1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS
Effective Management: Effective Management’’ as an effective control of any organisation or system. It is a judicious means to accomplish an end i.e. management is taken an effective control of an existing situation and the effective maintenance of the same.
Education has existed long before the establishment of organised schools. Even in primitive societies, there was education of a kind. Therefore, education itself is life and life is education, for it is a process of learning to live a meaningful, acceptable and successful life with any given society. Education is therefore usually supported by the community when set up by individuals, groups or religious establishments.
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