EXAMINATION ON THE CHALLENGES FACING THE PROVISION OF QUALITY EDUCATION IN NIGERIA SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     INTRODUCTION        

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY 

1.2     STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

1.3     OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY     

1.4     RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1.5     RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

1.6     SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

1.7     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

1.8     DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY

1.9     DEFINITION OF TERMS     

CHAPTER TWO

2.0     LITERATURE REVIEW

CHAPTER THREE

3.0     RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1     RESEARCH DESIGN

3.2     AREA OF STUDY

3.3     POPULATION OF THE STUDY

3.4     RESEARCH SAMPLE AND SAMPLING TECHNIQUE

3.5     INSTRUMENT FOR DATA COLLECTION

3.6     VALIDITY OF THE INSTRUMENT

3.7     METHOD OF DATA COLLECTION

3.8     METHOD OF DATA ANALYSIS

CHAPTER FOUR

4.0     DATA ANALYSIS AND PRESENTATION

CHAPTER FIVE

5.0     SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION5.1     SUMMARY

5.2     CONCLUSION

5.3     RECOMMENDATIONS

REFRENCE

APPENDIX

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

Quality education has been the pillar in most parts of the world. The world has been on emphasis of education, which has made it possible for the resolution that requires countries to increase budgets to 6% by the year (UNDP, 2006). East African countries, for instance have been on increase on education budgets to about 1%, which was offered in some ten years ago (1990-2000), to about 3% to 6% (2005-2012). While the budgets are on increase in most countries, the query remains on the quality of education in most of these countries, and especially developing countries.

 Quality education refers to skills and knowledge that is potentially able to reflect the level of attainment. It refers to what that level of education can do based on the intent of the same. In this regard, if standard one pupil, according to the designing of the program must know to read and write, then quality of education is the ability of the pupils to demonstrate the attainment of reading and writing ability at that very level.

Nigeria’s educational system has experienced many changes in policies and programs. Some of the changes have appeared desirable to people on paper, but in terms of initiation and implementation, there has been high level of uncertainty regarding meaningful planning. This can be very detrimental especially as the future of Nigerians is based on the level of quality education her citizens acquire. Nigeria is party to various international treaties and covenants like the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights which state the importance of education. These treaties establish the fact that every person has a right to basic education.

It is not a gainsaying that secondary education is unique in the educational development of a child, being the link between primary and tertiary education. The knowledge, skills, values, and traits which a child acquires at this stage will complement those acquired at the primary level and when these are combined will prepare such child for tertiary education. In spite of the role of secondary education, Ajayi (2002) and Omoregie (2005) reported that it is riddled with crises of various dimensions and magnitude all of which combine to suggest that it is at crossroad. Most of the challenges of the for quality education Nigeria secondary schools includes, inadequate fund, Inadequate and low quality teachers, Inadequate and decay infrastructural facilities etc.

The importance of adequate funding in educational development cannot be overemphasized. No organization can carry out its function effectively without adequate financial resources at its disposal. According to Obe (2009), without adequate funding, standards of education at any level shall be tantamount to a mirage that is, building castles in the air. Money is important in a school because it is used to construct buildings, purchase needed equipment, pay staff’ salaries and allowances, maintain the plants and keep the services going. In Nigeria, secondary education derives its major fund from the annual allocation to the education sector. Unfortunately, allocation to the education sector on which secondary education depends has been consistently low in spite of the strategic role of the sector in the training of manpower for the development of the economy. Statistics (Central Bank of Nigeria, 2010) revealed that between 2000 and 2010, allocation to the education sector by Federal Government in Nigeria was not more than 14% of the annual budget, which was even low when compared to the allocation of countries such as Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, Angola, Sierra Leone, South Africa, all in Sub-Saharan Africa (United Nations Development Programme, 2011). Secondly Teachers are the fulcrum on which the lever of educational system rests (Achimugu, 2005). Apart from students, they are the largest and most crucial inputs of educational system who influence to a great extent the quality of educational output (Fadipe, 2003). In the National Policy on Education (2004), it is stated that no educational system can rise above the quality of the teachers. In spite of the role of teachers in educational system, issues of inadequacy and low quality teachers in secondary schools in Nigeria are prevalent (Moja, 2000; Omorege, 2005; Federal Ministry of Education, 2003; CBN, 2010). The report of the road map for Nigerian Education Sector by Federal Ministry of Education (2009a) specifically revealed that there was shortfall of 581 teachers in Junior Secondary Schools and 39,023 teachers in Senior Secondary Schools in Nigeria as at then, however the research is basically to examine the challenges facing quality education in Nigeria secondary schools.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

It is interesting to note that both primary and secondary schools had undergone series of transformations or changes partly due to changes in leadership in the country. There is no denying the fact that education in Nigeria has passed through varying degrees of problems in the process of planning and implementation. In some cases these problems defy solution, for instance explosive demand for education and the apparent lack of preparation and plan to cope with the situation have combined to aggravate the problems associated with the process of education in the country. Primary education is the recruitment ground for secondary education. If this section of education is weak it will affect the secondary education in the country. The Universal Primary Education (UPE) was launched in 1976 to boost primary education in Nigeria. This was a good scheme but did not last due to premature way it was launched. There is no doubt that the UPE program, had it been that it was properly given some time and adequate preparation for the implementation, it would have been one of the best programs that Nigeria education ever had. And now the Universal Basic Education [UBE] has been introduced, the society is yet to see its success or failure. Consequently, the products of primary education could not prepare adequate grounds for quality production of secondary education products.

Another problem is that of frequent changes in school curriculum .Both primary and secondary education suffered unnecessary changes in curriculum, the reason being that every in-coming administration would like to effect a change whether positive or negative. The moment there is a change in primary school curriculum it will definitely affect the secondary education. To buttress this point further, it is important to examine the structural flowchart of the National Policy on Education (NPE). The structure or flow chart of NPE does not help matters much, other problems of secondary education in Nigeria includes; in inadequate fund, Inadequate and low quality teachers, Inadequate and decay infrastructural facilities, all this challenges however aroused the interest of the researcher to embark on examining the challenges facing provision of quality education in Nigeria secondary education

1.3     Objective of the Study

The main objective of this study is to examine the challenges facing provision of quality education in Nigeria secondary education, specifically the study intends to:

1.     Find out the factors that influence quality education in Nigeria secondary schools

2.     Find out and examine are the challenges affecting secondary education in Nigeria

3.     Find out and analyze the challenges impeding quality education in Nigeria secondary schools

1.4     Research Question

1.     What are the factors that can influence quality education in Nigeria secondary schools?

2.     What are the problems affecting secondary education in Nigeria?

3.     Is there any challenges impeding quality education in Nigeria secondary schools?

1.5     Research Hypothesis

Ho: there are challenges impeding quality education in Nigeria secondary schools

Hi: there are no challenges impeding quality education in Nigeria secondary schools

1.6     Significance of the Study

This study will help Ministry of Education), Local Government Authorities (LGAs) and Non-Government Organization (NGOs) to generate knowledge and understanding on various policies in the way, which will enable and influence the development of education sector in a country, so as to improve the access and quality education in the country.

1.7     Scope of the Study

The focus of this research is to examine quality challenges facing secondary schools, in relation to adequate qualified teachers, teaching and learning materials and school infrastructures. Teachers and head teacher in public secondary schools in Ado-Odo LGA, Ogun state will be selected and used in this research.

1.8     Delimitation of the Study

Finance for the general research work will be a challenge during the course of study. Correspondents also might not be able to complete or willing to submit the questionnaires given to them.

However, it is believed that these constraints will be worked on by making the best use of the available materials and spending more than the necessary time in the research work. Therefore, it is strongly believed that despite these constraint, its effect on this research report will be minimal, thus, making the objective and significance of the study achievable.

1.9     Definition of Terms

Quality education: is a system of learning that produces well-educated individuals who can handle matters of concern within their area of study proficiently. The system should improve desirable qualities such as moral ethics in the individuals (Digolo, 2006).

Education: is a process of teaching and learning especially in schools or colleges to improve knowledge and skills.

Challenge: is the situation of being faced with something needing great mental or physical effort in order to be done successfully and which therefore tests a person’s ability. Sophia (1996)