TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF MANAGEMENT OF PRIMARY SCHOOLS BY THE UNIVERSAL BASIC EDUCATION BOARD IN DELTA STATE

ABSTRACT

This study was designed to ascertain teachers’ perception of management of primary schools by the UBEB in Uvwie and Warri South Local Government Areas of Delta state. Four research questions and two null hypotheses were formulated to guild the study. The study adopted descriptive survey design. The population of the study comprised 1,720 public primary school teachers. The sample of this study comprised of 325 teachers from

48 public primary schools. Instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire

titled “Teachers’ Perception of Management of Primary Schools by Universal Basic Education Board” (TPMPSQ). The instrument was validated by  three experts, from Educational Foundations and one from Measurement and Evaluation, all from Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka. The instrument was trial tested and Cronbach Alpha reliability test was used to determine the internal consistency of the instrument and an overall reliability co-efficient 0.81 was obtained. Data were analysed using mean scores and standard deviation to answer the research questions and t-test statistics was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Among the findings of the study is that to a low extent, urban and rural primary schools teachers’ comply with Minimum Standards for Universal Basic Education. It was recommended among others that the disparity between urban and rural primary schools on the implementation of Minimum Standards for Universal Basic Education should be checked and addressed.

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The  global concern on the place  of education and especially, universal basic education on the political, social and technological as well as economic development of a nation seems not to be in doubt. It has been widely acknowledged that unless the citizens of a nation receive at least basic education, the achievement of rapid economic and social development cannot be guaranteed. In other words, education is indeed central to the general existence of man. According to Ityav (2009), education is the training of the mind, the body and the brain through the acquisition of appropriate values, relevant skills and sound knowledge that helps reshape man and by extension, his society. According to the Federal Republic of Nigeria National Policy on Education, NPE (FRN, 2004:4), education in Nigeria is an instrument “per excellence” for effective national development. The expertise for national development is laid at the pre primary and primary education level.

Pre-primary education  is  the  education  given  in  an  educational  institution to children between the ages of 0 – 5years prior to their entering the primary school (FRN,

2004). As stated in the policy document, the purpose of Pre-primary education includes providing a smooth transition from the home to the school and providing adequate care and  supervision for  the  children while their  parents are  at  work.  Others include to inculcate in the child the spirit of enquiry and creativity through the exploration of nature and the local environment, playing with toys, artistic and musical activities, etc, teaching

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the  rudiments  of  numbers,  letters,  colours,  shapes  forms,  etc.  through  play  and inculcating social norms; preparing the child for the primary level of education.

Primary education, according to the Federal Republic of Nigeria in the National Policy on Education, NPE (FRN, 2004), is the education given in an institution for children aged 6 to 11 plus. It is the foundation of the entire educational system. Primary education is the key to the success or failure of the whole educational system. As the name implies, it is prime and must therefore be given the prime position (Aminu, 2009). A qualitative primary education is essential not only to sound secondary and tertiary education but throughout life.   The goals of primary education include to inculcate permanent literacy and numeracy and ability to communicate effectively, lay a sound basis for  scientific and  critical and  reflective thinking, promote patriotism, fairness, understanding and national unity, instill morals and values in the child. Others include to develop  in  the  child  the  ability  to  adapt  to  the  changing  environment,  provide opportunities for the child to develop life manipulative skills that will enable the child function effectively in the society within the limits of the child’s capacity (FRN, 2004).

Article 28 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child adopted by the general assembly of the United Nations in 1989 states that on the basis of equal opportunity, primary education shall be made compulsory and free for every child. Collaborating with this, Article 15 of the Child’s Right Act (FRN, 2004) states that every child has the right to free, compulsory and universal basic education and it shall be the duty of the government of Nigeria to provide such education.

Nigerian  government had,  on  previous occasions attempted universal primary education programmes in 1955 and 1957 in the civilian western and eastern regions respectively. It helped a lot of Nigerians but failed along the line because of instability and lack of political will, inadequate teacher supply, poor upgrading facilities for personnel, poor infrastructure and inadequate materials (Obanya, 2000).

In  continued  efforts to  ensure  that  every  Nigerian  child  is  educated, Nigeria became part of a conference held in Jomtien, Thailand (1990) which culminated to the declaration of Education For All (EFA) and New Delhi (1991) declaration of the E-9 countries (that is countries with the largest concentration of illiterates of which Nigeria is a member) to the total eradication of illiteracy by year 2000 (Ogbonna 2001). One of the eight millennium development goals (MDGs) which is to achieve Universal Basic Education (UBE) is also part of the efforts.

According to the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC, 2004), UBE is a nine year educational programme intended to eradicate illiteracy, ignorance and poverty as well as stimulate and accelerate national development, political consciousness and national integration. It comprises of Early Child Care Education (ECCE), Primary Education and  Junior  Secondary Education  (FRN 2004).  Universal Basic  Education represents the most fascinating and perhaps, the most controversial of the education system. According to Adeboyeji (2000), it is the most fascinating because there lies the greatest activities in the educational system and controversial because the decision to make it free and compulsory has led many observers to conclude that quality is being compromised in order to make it accessible. The educational system at any level must

therefore be improved in order to make it capable of playing the part of enhancing socio- economic development, reducing inequality and encouraging economic competitiveness.

The objectives of the UBE programme, as launched in 1999 are: to develop in the entire citizenry, a strong conscientiousness for education and a strong commitment to its vigorous promotion; provision of free universal basic education for every Nigerian child of school going age and to reduce drastically the incidence of dropout from the formal school system. Others include catering for young persons, the acquisition of appropriate level of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life skills (Adepoju and Fabiyi, 2010).

The implementation of UBE is relevant because primary school enrolment has been  on  the  increase.  Many  states,  including  Delta  State  are  implementing  the programme. The State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) controls the management of primary schools, provision of school facilities and recruitment of teachers at the state level. According to Ncharam and Okon (2005) school management is the total process through which appropriate human and material resources are made available and made effective for accomplishing the purposes of the school. The school management should be child sensitive. It should be achieved by analyzing school life into its component activities and making prompt and effective provision for each.

Facilities in education according to Peretemode (2001) are those things of education which enable a skilful teacher to achieve a level of instructional effectiveness that far exceeds what is possible when they are not available. Peretemode further states that the successful implementation of any educational programme depends mostly on the

quality of available school facilities that are provided for such programme. Such facilities are to be provided in accordance with the sizes and locations of the schools. For this purpose, UBEC (2010) categorizes schools into three groups, namely rural schools, semi- urban schools and urban schools. The Minimum Standard describes a rural or small school as being one with less than 200 pupils enrolled but a minimum of 60 pupils. These schools are usually in the rural areas where land is readily available for school expansion but may lack pipe-borne water, electricity and other amenities. For semi -urban schools, they have not more than 1000 pupil enrolment and usually in big villages or small towns where land is not a critical problem and water supply and electricity probably exist. Urban schools are those with more than 1000 pupils, located in large towns and have both  pipe-borne water  and  electricity but  suffer a  number of  economic constraints, including land.

Management according to Okorodudu (2003) is the organizational process that includes strategic planning, setting; objectives, managing resources, deploying the human and financial assets needed to achieve objectives, and measuring results. Management also includes recording and storing facts and information for later use or for others within the organization. Management functions are not limited to managers and supervisors. Every member of the organization has a role to play.

The management of primary education has undergone a lot of changes following promulgation of various decrees since the inception of government takeover of schools in

1970. In 1988, the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) was established by

decree No.31. It has corresponding bodies at the state, local government, district and village levels for the management of primary education in the nation. In January 1991, the local government education decree No.3 was promulgated by the federal military government in place of decree No.31. The decree empowered the local government education authorities to take over the management and funding of primary schools in their areas of jurisdiction. This decree was also abrogated and replaced by decree No.96 of 1993 (Chukwu, 2009). With this decree, the National Primary Education Commission (NPEC) was resuscitated to manage primary education at the national level while, its arm, the State Primary Education Board (SPEB) had to manage primary education at the state  level.  With  the  introduction  of  the  Universal  Basic  Education  (UBE)  which extended basic education to junior secondary, the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) took over the mantle of management of basic 1 – 9 schools. That is 6 years of primary school and 3 years of junior secondary school.

Statutorily, compulsory free Universal Basic Education bill (2004) established at the national level a body called “the commission” to formulate policies and receive block grants from the federal government for the running of the programme. The bill equally stated the establishment of State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB), referred to as “education board”. This board is charged with the responsibility of implementing UBE at the state level. It receives grant allocation from the commission for the smooth running of the programme. The board’s functions, according to  Delta  State Universal Basic Education Board Law (2004) are: management of early child care and education (ECCE) centers,  primary  schools  and  junior  secondary  schools  in  Delta  state,  recruitment,

appointment, retirement, promotion and discipline of teaching and non-teaching staff on salary grade level 07 and above. Others include disbursement of funds provided to it from both federal and state sources; setting up an effective functional supervisory unit; maintenance and rehabilitation of dilapidated classrooms/schools and other school infrastructure.

The objectives of the UBE in Nigeria can only be achieved if teachers, who are the instruments through which such objectives could be achieved in complete. According to Ukeje (2000) a teacher is a person who has successfully gone through a well designed teacher education programme in a recognized institution. Such a teacher is expected to be professionally prepared and should practice the act of teaching in accordance with the accepted professional principles. A teacher is also anyone who imparts knowledge, skills, attitude into an  individual in formal situations. The  minimum teaching qualification prescribed for education system in Nigeria is the Nigeria Certificate in Education NCE (FGN 2004). This implies that primary school teachers must be professional teachers with NCE.

Teachers have the perception that classroom teaching is the only job of the teacher and that teaching is an important aspect of the teacher’s job. It represents only one major aspect of the role. According to Sadiq (2002) the perception of the teachers is very important because teachers need to be involved in the general management of the school. The teacher to Sadiq is not only in a strategic position to make worthwhile contributions to the total school programme but also should be given opportunity to make them and that teachers are more committed to decisions they contributed in making than those

which were imposed on them. It is generally believed that for primary institutions of learning to record appreciable success in the development of cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of young children, basic standards must be followed (Ityav, 2009). These are standards prescribed by the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC), an agency of government responsible for the implementation of the Universal Basic Education in Nigeria.

Standard, as defined by UBEC (2010) is an established norm or requirement that all systems work towards achieving. Section 9 (C) of the compulsory, Free, Universal Basic Education and other Related Matters act, 2004, otherwise known as UBE Act (2004) provides that UBEC is  to prescribe Minimum Standards for basic education throughout Nigeria. This is in line with the National Policy on Education (NPE) and the directive of the National Council on Education. UBEC should ensure the effective monitoring of such standards. The document states that the Minimum Standards are anchored on resources, processes and performance.

From the perspective of Adepoju and Fabiyi (2010) emphasis on education standards has been more on what the learners should know, as prescribed in the curriculum. However, the most embracing and functional standards should emphasize what learners should be able to do as prescribed in the curriculum, which leads to the development of normative indices of performance in every school subject. Quality assurance is also listed as a key component of Minimum Standards. According to the Universal Basic Education Commission (2010), quality assurance is the management of goods, services and activities from the input stage, through the processes, to the output

stage of production. It thus aims at preventing quality problems and ensuring that only conforming products  reach  the  consumer.  Indicators  of  quality  in  the  UBE  context include quality of teachers and learners, quality of curriculum, supervision of instruction, quality of learning environments and quality outcomes, including academic achievement.

The situation in Uvwie and Warri South Local Government Areas of Delta State also appears pathetic. One could, through casual observation, notice that school facilities are in a state of disrepair and no proper management. In some schools, teachers are not enough while some are totally absent and in others, the available teachers and facilities are over stretched. Teachers are seen teaching between 50 and 60 pupils in a class. Many rural primary schools have a 3 classroom block that accommodates all classes including the head teacher’s office and for others, no such structure exists. The observation also suggests that most teachers posses the minimum teaching qualification (NCE) but the manner in which they handle the teaching-learning process raises serious doubts about such qualifications.

Arising from the above, there are serious concerns by keen observers that if the perceived non-compliance to prescribed Minimum Standards is not checked and the situation not corrected, the achievement of the UBE, a key component of the MDG would be distorted. It is upon the need to implement to the later, the provisions of the Minimum Standard for  UBE in  Nigeria and  the  perceived non-adherence to  the  standards  by teachers and relevant agencies of government responsible for the implementation of the standards that the research is based. This is to assess teachers’ perception of management

of primary schools by the Universal Basic Education Board in Uvwie and Warri South

Local Government Areas of Delta State.

Statement of the Problem

The general aim of Universal Basic Education is to ensure the acquisition of appropriate levels of literacy, numeracy, manipulative, communicative and life skills by learners.  This  is  expected to  be  acquired  through  a  well  articulated  programme of instruction in a formal school setting, with appropriate management, teachers, facilities and services. Observation however has shown that many learners are unable to achieve this due to lack of qualified teachers, failure of schools to adhere to curriculum provision, lack of basic facilities, and lack of proper management, among others. In some schools, teachers are not enough while some are totally absent and in others, the available teachers and facilities are over stretched. Teachers are seen teaching between 50 and 60 pupils in a class. Many rural primary schools have a 3 classroom block that accommodates all classes including the head teacher’s office and for others, no such structure exists. The observation also suggests that most teachers posses the minimum teaching qualification (NCE) but the manner in which they handle the teaching-learning process raise serious doubts about such qualifications. The researcher wonders whether it is the failure of schools to operate within minimum standards prescribed by UBEC that results in extremely bad state of products of these institutions.  As a result of this, the Delta child, who is supposed to maximally benefit from universal basic education programme is put

at a disadvantage as these schools seem not to be meaningfully complying with the stipulated minimum standards.

The  situation  seems  more  worrisome among teachers  on  the  management of primary schools by UBEB. Teachers believed they need to be involved in the general management of primary schools and that teachers are more committed to decision they contribute inputs than those which were imposed on them. It is strongly believed that UBE can only be achieved with proper management. By proper management, UBE will function  more  effectively  and  efficiently  since  quality  issues  cannot  be  objectively handled without the minimum standards which serve as benchmarks for gauging improvement. The problem of this study therefore is to find out teachers’ perception of management of primary schools by the UBEB in Uvwie and Warri South Local Government Areas of Delta state.

Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of this study is to ascertain teachers’ perception of management of primary schools by the UBEB in Uvwie and Warri South Local Government Areas of Delta state.   Specifically, the study finds out the perception of teachers on:

1.  The extent to which UBEB ensures availability of facilities to meet the Minimum

Standards for Universal Basic Education.

2.  The extent to which UBEB ensure teachers’ compliance to Minimum Standards for Universal Basic Education in the rural and urban areas.

3.  The extent of teachers’ overall assessment of SUBEB’s supervisory functions.

4.  The extent to which UBEB ensures compliance to quality assurance measures as a

Minimum Standards for Universal Basic Education.

Significance of the Study

The result of the study will have both theoretical and practical significance. The study is based on Management Function Theory by Taylor and Bureaucratic Administration Theory by Weber which emphasize the use of various components of an organization in the realization of organizational targets. By this, a justification was made for all resources and efforts to be pulled towards the implementation of the minimum standards for Universal Basic Education in Nigeria.

The result of the study will be of significance to the State Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board and Local Government Education Authorities across the state, public school administrators, Parents-Teachers’ Associations, teachers and pupils.

First, to the government agencies (Ministry of Education, State Universal Basic Education Board and Local Government Education Authorities), the result of the study would help them to appreciate the need to adopt more serious measures and take concrete steps in  providing the  needed  services, enabling environment and  facilities  towards meeting  the  laid  down  standards.  This  could  be  through  seminar  and  workshops organised to brainstorm on the findings and recommendations of the study.  Through this, it would also make them to appreciate the need to provide more intensive and regular

checks on public primary schools to ensure that they conform to the stipulated standards. The government agencies would also use the result of the study to appreciate the need for continuous  development  of  basic  education  teachers  through  in-service  trainings, refresher courses, seminars and workshops towards keeping them in touch with the latest ideas and skills. It would also provide, especially the Quality Assurance Department of these agencies (MoE,SUBEB, LGEAs) with the yardstick for monitoring compliance to the general and specific requirements of the minimum standards. For primary school administrators, the published results of the study would expose them to the minimum standards prescribed by UBEC.

The findings of the study will guide the Parents-Teachers’ Associations (PTA) in helping to monitor standards in schools to ensure that their children benefit maximally from the Universal Basic Education programme. The association would also appreciate the need, through the study, to partner with school administrators and the government in providing the needed facilities, materials and other resources in meeting the established standards. Pupils will perhaps be the major beneficiaries of the findings of the study. This is because the quality of instruction will be enhanced, quality learning environment provided, proper evaluation procedures adopted, strict supervision of teaching-learning process stepped-up, among others. To this extent, the pupils will benefit from the results of the study.

Scope of the Study

The study is delimited to all public primary school teachers in urban and rural areas in Uvwie and Warri South Local Government Areas of Delta State. The study will

also cover Minimum Standards for Universal Basic Education in Nigeria, quality assurance, school management in the realization of Universal Basic Education, teacher quality and facilities.

Research questions

The study was guided by the following research questions:

1.  To what extent does UBEB ensure availability of facilities for Universal Basic

Education?

2.  To what extent does UBEB ensure teachers’ compliance with Minimum Standards for Universal Basic Education in the rural and urban areas?

3.  What is the extent of teachers’ assessment of SUBEB’s supervisory functions?

4.  To  what  extent  are  quality  assurance  measures  utilized  as  requirements  of

Minimum Standards for Universal Basic Education?

Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses, tested at 0.05 level of significance, guided the study:

Ho1 There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of teachers in urban and rural schools on the level of compliance to minimum standards for Universal Basic Education.

Ho2  There is no significant difference in the mean rating of urban and rural teachers’ assessment of SUBEB’s supervisory functions in primary schools.

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