ABSTRACT
The study was carried out in Bayelsa State to investigate modalities for improving the funding of primary schools by Local Government Education Authorities (LGEAs). A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population comprised 540 respondents while the sample size was 224 Head-teachers and Education secretaries selected through randomization. The instrument for data collection was a researcher-designed questionnaire. This was face-validated by three experts while Cronbach Alpha method was employed in computing the reliability estimate. Four research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation while t- test was used in testing the formulated hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings show that LGEAs to a great extent fulfill their statutory roles in the funding of primary schools through submission of total estimate, annual account and monthly returns to SUBEB amongst others. The findings also identified the constraints to LGEAs in funding primary schools to include inadequate funding of the education sector as well as poor statistical data while the effect of the constraints include poor supply of infrastructural facilities, delay in payment of salaries and allowances amongst others. The findings also identified increasing of budgetary allocation in education, active private sector participation and collaborative efforts of the three tiers of government in developing education and establishment of endowment funds. The researcher in general recommended that Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs) and other private groups should join hands in providing funds for effective running of primary school education in the country.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Education is a social service engaged principally in manpower development for the nation and enhancing knowledge for social and economic development. Consequently, most nations of the world strive to devote a sizeable proportion of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to develop the education sector. However, it should be noted that Nigerian education sector has consistently received less allocation than advocated for by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO). According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation, (UNESCO 2002), every nation of the world should allocate at least 26% of its annual budget to education sector but Nigeria has not met this recommendation. In Nigeria, between 2008- 2013 only 8.2% and 8.7% of our annual budget was allocated to education (FGN, Annual Budget, (2008-2013).
World Bank, (2003) stated that the federal government expenditure on education seem to be below 10% of its overall expenditure. It would have been more interesting to spell out what proportion of this expenditure on education goes to primary education. This issue of under-funding of primary education is so endemic that, it has encompassed series of other problems of shortages of human and material resources, (Iwuanyanwu and Anene, 2001). This current pattern of investment within the education sector is such that the tertiary level gets the lion share while the primary level gets the least, (Alabi, 2010).
In Nigeria, there are other levels of education, such as tertiary education, secondary education and primary education. All these levels of education play a significant role in the socio-economic and political development of the nation. Higher education as defined by the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004: 36) in her National Policy on Education is the education given in universities, polytechnics, colleges of education and monotechnics after secondary education including those institutions offering corresponding courses.
Historically, the principal player in the Nigerian public tertiary education system has been the government. The federal government through its various agencies, such as National Universities Commission (NUC), National Commission for Colleges of Education (NCCE) and the National Board for Technical Education (NBTC) provides grants to universities, colleges of education and polytechnics. The States also fund their public universities, colleges of education and polytechnics, (Emmanuel, 2011). Apart from tertiary education, we also have secondary education. Secondary school education according to Omonyi, (2000) refers to full-time education provided in secondary schools usually for students between the ages of eleven or twelve and eighteen years plus. Public secondary schools in this country are solely funded by the federal and state governments in this country.
The other level of education is the primary education. The Federal Republic of Nigeria in the National Policy on Education (2004: 14) describes primary education as the education given in an educational institution for children aged between 6-11 years plus. The policy states that since the rest of the educational system is built upon it, primary education is the key or failure of the whole educational system. Despite the preeminence accorded this level of education in Nigeria, the sector is poorly funded.
Funding according to Ogbonnaya, (2012), refers to a sum of money saved or made available for a particular purpose. It can be called money or financial resources. In other words, funding is the amount of money needed to fund an on-going project or programme for future development. Investment in primary education has become internationally recognized as instrument per excellence for development. Primary education requires adequate public financing support more than any other of the other levels in education since it is the foundation level of any educational system. Gidado, (2000) asserts that primary education has suffered tremendously in Nigeria from....
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