THE EFFECT OF SCHOOL ECONOMY ON THE MANAGEMENT OF PRIMARY SCHOOL IN OTA

Abstract

The enormous influence that funding has on management of primary schools can never be over stressed as it determines the rate at which primary school develop. This study investigated Effect of school economy on the Management of primary schools in Ogun state of Nigeria. Three research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The review of related literature was done under conceptual frameworks which identified the effect of school economy on human resource management, provision of instructional materials and provision of school facilities in primary schools in Ota in Ogun state. The descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised 9,400 (nine thousands four hundred) teachers from 220 grant-aided primary schools in Ogun state of Nigeria. A sample of 296 (two hundred and ninety six) teachers from twenty-five selected primary schools was used for the study. A 15-item structured questionnaire by the researchers tilted “Effect of school economy and Management of Primary schools Questionnaire (IFMSSQ)’’ was used for data collection. Descriptive statistics of Mean and Standard Deviations were used to answer the research questions while the Chi-square (χ2) statistical tool was used to test the effect of school economy on the management of human resource, on the provision of instructional materials and provision of schools’ facilities, in primary schools in Ogun state of Nigeria. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended amongst others that the educational administrators should provide adequate funds for the management of human resource such as prompt and regular payment of teachers’ salaries and allowances among others. Government should provide adequate funds for the procurement of instructional material to enhance effective and efficient teaching and learning process in primary schools. Educational administrators should endeavor to make sufficient funds available for provision of adequate physical school facilities since their non availability or inadequacy, lower, employees’ job performance and job satisfaction; hence productivity of teachers is also determined by the availability of adequate school facilities. Conclusion were made and implication of the findings drawn.

Keywords: Influence, Funding, Management, Human Resource, Instructional Materials, School Facilities.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of study

Financing of education is at the heart of the educational crisis in many countries of the world. In Nigeria, there appears to be a perennial crisis occasioned by lack of definite structures and strategies in funding of the education sector. The overall vision in the current government aims at making Nigeria, one of the top twenty economies in the world by the year 2020. Given the economic revolution that is anchored on the rapid developments in Information and Communication Technology (ICT), it is obvious that any country that wants to be reckoned with in the global arena must be outstandingly advanced in education. This initiative conforms with Owoye (2010) who opines that the objectives of education in any country represents the country’s statement of intentions regarding what aspect of its social, economic and political needs and aspirations can or should be addressed by the educational system. In spite of this articulation of objectives, what is equally obvious is that, all the initiatives introduced have been poorly implemented for various reasons; prominent among them is unsustainable funding.

The Universal and Compulsory Primary Education (UPE) was introduction in 1976, without adequate preparation in terms of the number of classrooms required, number of qualified teachers available and the extent, which available resources could last. More than forty years after that initiative, the educational sector at all levels is still characterized by poor performance which is largely linked to the enduring crisis of funding, definite structures and strategies for addressing the problem. This laudable programme caused an overt enrolment in demand for educational services at the primary level. But the financial resources became inadequate (Arinze, 2012). Arinze further maintains that this Manifestation of poor funding of Nigeria’s education from the mid 1970s into 2000s caused widespread cases of arrears of unpaid teachers salaries, school infrastructures, and equipment were non-existent, dilapidated or grossly inadequate. This makes effective management of the education system a herculean task, and when the situation becomes intolerable, either the teachers or the students or both revolt, leading to demonstrations, strike actions, frequent and often prolonged closure of the institutions and damage to educational quality. The challenges of Nigeria education sector in general and its funding in particular could be traced to policy and strategy instability and inconsistency, inefficient management, wastages and leakages.

The sources of financing primary school education are basically derived from what can be termed here as obligatory and alternative sources. The obligatory sources are the Government that is the Federal and State Government. This is because the Government is constitutionally required to finance education. Federal Republic of Nigeria, National Policy on Education (FRN 2014) sees education as an expensive social service that requires adequate financial provision from all tiers of Government for successful implementation. The Federal Government is in charge of funding higher institution while the state Government is in charge of funding primary schools and the state owned higher institutions. Their source of funds is primarily their allocation from the Federal account, their share of Value Added Tax (VAT) and state generated revenue through local Taxes. Whatever amount of funds obtained from the various governments is augmented from other sources referred to as alternative sources. A Synopsis of some of these alternative sources of funds are local loans/ Free grants, Education Trust Fund (ETF), Multinational Companies, school fees and levies (Institutional source). Endowment/Donations: Okunamiri (2007) is of the view that endowment funds and donations are recent development in financing education in Nigeria. Endowment or donations are done by giving money to erect school buildings, blocks or provide facilities and equipment. Foreign loans are equally obtained for financing education in Nigeria. Other sources of funding education, especially the primary schools includes government grants, External Aids from Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) like UNESCO, UNICEF, Rockefeller Foundation, Ford Foundation Canada, Parents Teachers Association (PTA) and Old Students Association (Alumni Association),Among others However, the researcher focused on the obligatory sources of funding of primary schools in Ogun state of Nigeria for the study.

Ibukun (2006), laments that there is growing shortage of funds and learning resources in the primary school system. According to Onyeneye (2006) and Adegbite (2007), the major challenge facing the management of primary school system in Nigeria is inadequate funding, Ajayi and Ayodele (2008) argued that there was an increase in the proportion of total expenditure devoted to education, but this has been considered to be rather grossly inadequate considering the phenomeno increase in student enrolment and increasing cost, which has been aggravated by inflation. Besides, Ajayi and Ekundayo (2006) remarked that the Nigerian government over the years has not been meeting the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recommendation of 26% of the total budget allocation for the education sector. Aina (2007) posited that government priority to education is still very low. These revelations expose the extent to which the government itself is a contributing factor to the financial inadequacies of primary school system.The apparent shortage of fund available to the primary school system has been responsible for declining library, social and laboratory facilities in Nigerian primary schools in recent years. This in no small way makes the governance of the primary school system a herculean task. There is deteriorated infrastructure: It is worrisome to note that Nigerian primary schools are fast decaying. All the resources required for education production process are in short supply. Lecture halls, laboratories, students’ hostels, library spaces, books, journals and office spaces are all seriously inadequate (Ochuba, 2007). According to World Bank (2012) the equipment for teaching, research and learning are either lacking or very inadequate and in bad shape to permit the primary schools the freedom to carry out the basic functions of academics.

Infrastructural facilities are provided for the enhancement and promotion of teaching and learning activities. The facilities available do influence, to a large extent, the quality of education being provided. Nworgu (2010) Adesina (2005) and Ojedele (2007) agree that the quality and quantity of the educational facilities available within an educational system have positive relationships with the standard and quality of the educational system. These facilities such as buildings of classrooms, offices, chairs and tables for students and staff and other facilities are grossly inadequate in primary schools Fadipe (2006) opines that the high cost of these facilities in terms of procurement and maintenance, however, constitute a very serious problem in primary schools and since they lack the resources needed for the procurement of some of these facilities and their maintenance, it becomes nearly impossible for such schools to be of good standard in terms of infrastructural development.

A common feature of the human resource (teaching personnel) in many of the primary schools is seriously characterized by the inadequately of qualified teachers. In other words, most of the teachers are not qualified professionally as they lack the basic ingredients needed for the promotion of quality education. Fadipe (2006) asserts that a non- professional teacher who is neither good nor effective cannot be said to be contributing much to quality education. Most of the teachers in the primary schools are found to lack both technical and personnel competences required in teaching, because they are not professionally qualified because the success of any academic programme especially at the primary school level, depends to a large extent on the use of good instructional materials. The procurement and usage of qualitative and quantitative materials seem to occupy a very significant position in the achievement of effective teaching and learning process. The term, instructional aids, instructional resources, teaching – learning materials and educational materials are used interchangeably to refer to the same concepts. Ajuago (2005:20) defines it as “resources or materials used by teacher in the classroom”. Davis in Kurumeh (2008) maintains that all instructional materials to a very reasonable degree help in perception, understanding, transfer or learning, retention and provide reinforcement of knowledge which the students are challenged to think creatively about what is to be learned.

Instructional materials in primary schools are expected to facilitate teaching and learning. These are resources used by the learner to enhance learning. It also motivates and encourages participation and helps maintain interest in a lesson. Examples of some instructional materials include projectors, video tape maker, magnetic white board, bulletin, textbooks, not every material can be available for the teacher in the course of teaching because of scarcity of resources. The level at which these instructional materials are used are supposed to be related to their availability (Otie 2005, Agogo 2011). The instructional materials in many schools are either unavailable or are insufficient to meet educational needs of the learners. Availability of funds is one overriding factor that will boost the use of instructional materials in teaching and learning of probably purchased instructional materials but as funds are not there, even improvisation of some instructional materials may not be possible because teacher need little amount of money to buy materials for the improvisation. The falling standard of teaching and learning can be attributed to this factor. Onyejemezi (2006) had identified lack of educational resources in teaching irrespective of government’s policy pronouncements and measures over the years. Due to lack of instructional materials in Nigerian primary school teachers take to chalk and talk in the process of teaching and learning. This usually makes it difficult for the teacher to delivery effectively thereby resulting to a halt in the efficient output that would have been rendered by such a teacher which in turn constitutes negative influence on primary school education. This equally affects the effective management of this level of education which is considered the bedrock of a child’s intellectual development

SUBEC II that will be implemented between 2010 and 2015 started in July, 2010. Studies made on SUBEC I showed that the programme faced a number of challenges in various fields. For example, (Matagi,2007), about challenges facing implementation of SUBEC I showed that some new schools were lacking buildings like laboratories and libraries also classrooms were not completed in time, hence causing delay in opening schools. Further, the study showed that in some areas buildings were of low quality and rehabilitation was not done as planned. Bakula (2009) on assessment of community participation towards building construction observed that, the community was not effectively sensitized in order to create awareness about SUBEC. Few studies conducted in the area of management of funds pointed out a number of irregularities. Thus this study intends to look specifically on challenges that were faced in the area of management of funds at all levels.

School management is seen as the activities that are done in order to plan, organize and run a business organization or institution. It is the act of running or controlling a business or similar organization. Akpakwu (2013) sees management as the ability of educational managers to judiciously handle human, material, time and financial resources towards achieving the goal of education. According to Lewis (2004), Management includes such activities as proper planning and handling of school facilities, maintenance of sound school discipline among staff and students, provision of instructional materials, availability of qualified personnel, effective supervision and sound administrative policy. This explains why the realization of educational goals of any nation can be attained only through congenial school management which includes proper planning, organizing, co-coordinating, staffing, budgeting, controlling, maintenance of sound school discipline among staff and students. In primary institutions, administrators are charged with the management of finance, time, human and material resources in order to achieve the aims and objectives of their institution. It is pertinent to note that, when effective management is in place, then there are signs of good things to happen in the teaching-learning process.

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