COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA   

ABSTRACT

 

The study was a comparative analysis of the management of public and private secondary schools in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The study had five specific objectives, five research questions and five null hypotheses.  Descriptive survey research design was used for the study. The population of the study is one thousand five hundred and twenty eight  (1528) which consists of  principals from all public and private secondary schools in Kaduna State. Out of this number, three hundred and seven (307) were purposively sampled in the State from each of the two Local Government Areas. The researcher developed a checklist for data collection. The researcher collected a letter of introduction from the department of vocational and technical education, that enabled the researcher to collect official data needed for the study from Ministry of Education Kaduna State and other schools in the state. The data collected were analyzed using frequencies and percentages, while, the hypotheses were tested using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. The study results among others revealed that, public secondary schools were provided with more instructional materials than private secondary schools in Kaduna State. The study concluded that, Public secondary schools are better than private schools in terms of provision of instructional materials. The study recommends that proprietors of private secondary schools in Kaduna State should build on standard through the provision of adequate instructutional resources like their counterparts in public secondary schools.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Kaduna State was part of the former North Central State, which was created  in

1967 when Nigeria changed from four (4) regional system to 19 state structure. In 1987, it was divided into two along the line of the old provincial boundary, thus Katsina province became Katsina State, while Zaria province formed the present Kaduna State.

The state capital is Kaduna, a status it has enjoyed since the old Northern region days. There are twenty three (23) Local Government Areas (LGAS) in the state, and Kaduna State covers an area of 44,408.3 square kilometers. The population according to 2006 census is 6,066,562, which then put the density at about 137 persons per square kilometer.

Kaduna State is a major industrial axis in the North, while Kaduna town has a lot of commercial activities and industries like the Peugeot car assembly and the petroleum refinery and textile industries. The state has an airport, which is accessible all year round because of fair weather. The State also has a major railway junction for the entire railway system between the North and the South.

Kaduna State Government (KSG) attaches high priority to the education of its citizens and had made concerted efforts to address the long-standing problems of low enrolment and poor educational quality, particularly at the primary and secondary education levels. The main interventions have been the restructuring of the school system, large-scale recruitment of teaching staff, the construction of many new classrooms and facilities and rehabilitation of existing ones,with the procurement of equipment and related teaching aids. (Kaduna 2015).

 

The objectives of education in Kaduna State, is to produce citizens who will be of use to the entire nation. There were Missionary bodies in so many communities in the State with the aim to enhance standards of education. History shows that at a time the Nigeria government took over schools from the missionary bodies, it was committed in providing and ensuring sustained improvement in the schools. To this end, the government was involved in development plans such as provision of transportation, communication, as well as social overhead, such as education and health. At a point the federal government saw the number of population of Nigerian children that enroll in secondary schools as  large to fund all the schools. In this way, it is understood that economic retrenchment at all levels of government is one of the reasons that propels the issuance of lience to individuals in Nigeria to operate private secondary schools when the role of welfare state has been constrained. (Chiang, 2012).

Since the government can not fund education properly, the federal government, international  agencies and  donor financiers intensified increased coverage of education to ensure that all children go to school which necesitated the issuance of license to private providers to establish private schools in Nigeria. Comparatively, license issued to private individuals is used interchangeably as commercialization and public secondary schools is linked to government own schools while principals in both private and public secondary schools is described as management in a comparative sense. The role of school principals also has dramatically changed since 1990. Principals are not only the educational leaders of their secondary schools but managers who are responsible for financing, personnel, and the results of their institutions. Previously, a school principal was an experienced, senior teacher who was promoted for good service to education. Today‘s school principal must be a qualified leader who understands education development and has solid management skills to lead a school.

Selection of new secondary school principals is often based on procedures more typical of the private sector, with interviews and psychological tests to confirm the suitability of the candidate (Alava, Halttunen & Risku, 2012). Therefore, the need to ensure education for all which resulted in growing support for  commercialization of education sector as an instrument to increase the current provision of the twenty first century. More so, under the growing pressure to meet the education for all goals, ministry of education in Nigeria has adopted the policy in line with privatization, commercialization and derugulation of education. Supporting this statement, Saidu (2011) stated that  Nigeria commercialization and privatization Decree No.25 of 1988, is the reorganization of enterprises wholly and partly owned by the government in which such commercialzed enterprises shall operate as profit-making ventures and without subvention from government‘. The commercialization of education in Kaduna State is seen as transformation of public goods and services into products that are privately owned by individuals or corporations and sold for profit. This has emerged the concept of education operating as an entrepreneurial industry in which institutions and other providers are competing for financial gains. Hence education is increasingly being treated by providers and consumers as a commercial product that can be bought and sold like any other commodity. The logic of this new perspective has placed more of the burden for financing education on it users.

For better understanding in exploring the private secondary school in teaching  and learning environment, commercialized schools (private schools) influence commercial behaviors in their schools. In this case, commercialized schools refered to everyday effort within individual private schools which utilize contemporay managerial concepts and innovations to operate like business enterprise and customize various educational programs to serve different needs of their customers. The private schools also focused on how academic program compete in the market (among other private schools), by promoting their programs like other strategies that help advertise and deliver educational program. In line with this, some private schools adopted corporate patterns of culture and practices into the traditional public schools by using various market- oriented activities which was the benefit in commercializing education sector in Nigeria by increasing private revenue that balance education sector.

Commercialized private schools are being applauded for taking up commercail  behaviors, many are questioning the standard of education in Nigeria whether increasing private schools involvement in the commercialization process will lead to a decline in traditional academic value of education. A lot believed that the increase of private schools will caused education sector to lose their spirit and essence, and devastate the traditional standard of education. Many people have indeed given serious thought to the standards issue of education on the areas like enrolment ratio in line with students teacher ratio, the qualification of teachers in private secondary schools, infrastructural facilities, the academic performance of students in private secondary schools compared to those in public school and the instructional material used in private secondary schools as a standard of education.

In all the different types of standards enumerated, it is realised that information have to be collected to make useful and meaningful decision about the status-quo of the quality of education which is an extension of educational standards. These concern in turn, have implication for the content, quality and availabilty of infrastructure in teaching material and facilities, availabilty of teaching staff, manpower development, staff qualification, students enrolment ratio with teaching staff available and supporting staff  in secondary schools in Kaduna State, Nigeria.

Reduction in subvensions to schools, have made them to find their own funding and resource. This situation led  private schools today in such away that even grades are compromised for money, admission and forgery of results and lack of good evironment which has resulted in the change of society‘s perception about the need,value and standards of education. This is why secondary schools   are continuously breeding halfbaked WACE and NECO holders into higher institutions who can not translate what they learned into practice in the real world.

Management of educational sector have come to stay in Nigeria, but the questions on factors challenging the prospect of the standard of education in Private Schools, the quality control of their staff qualification, infrastrature, enrolment ratio and the students academmic performance at large. Based on all the variables highlighted, this study investigate comparative analysis on the management of public and private secondary schools in Kaduna state, Nigeria.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

The educational sector in Nigeria is under continious criticism due to perceived falling standard of education. One major factor that has been attributed to  be fundational basis, is the commercialized private secondary schools in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Scholars have continue to argue on the extent  to which commercialization has contributed to falling educational standard. They have tied employment of  teachers, as a result of profit maximisation which has consequently been attributed to precipitated the downward trend of education standard compared to public secondary schools.

One factor that has been ascribed to have fuelled by commercialization of schools is in adequate infrastructural facilities in public schools associated with acquisition and development of facilities and teachers. It is still argued that in public secondary school there may in adequate building, funitures such as chair and desk for the students. Consequently, the contribution of commercialization of education is the provision of adequate materials, that may also ultimately tied to finacial requirement for acquisation and maintainance. The provision of the instructural material and its userbililty has been traced with a gap between the way public secondary schools is suplied with instructural material compared to its counterpart in private secondary schools.

Management skills inposed on untrained principals, as principals operating environments, schools have changed significantly over the last two decades. Gone is the school that the principal administered, ensuring implementation of standards and reporting on implementation. Today, a school as a principal‘s operating environment is  a profit centre run by the principal as the manager of strategy, finances, administration, human resources, pedagogy, performance as well as a diverse service centre. Therefore selection of a wrong principal as a manager is a failure in school management both in private and public secondary schools in Nigeria.

Another issue of discussion is the way the private secondary schools devised to boost students academic performance through external examination bodies that commercially inclined. Centres which in local parlance is known as ―miracle centres‖ have been devised to fraudulently boost performance of the students. Thus, parents have choose to take their ward or children to such schools because of the miracle inrespective of the cost, provided that their children will pass the examination. Another measure is the low teaacher-students ratio, which resulted from inadequate or sufficient teachers in private secondary schools which has been acknowledged by scholars and international agencies to be a major requirement for improved education standard. However, scholars have opioned that both the public and private secondary schools have this problem with teacher to hundered students in a classroom, mostly in public schools. But government have tried in providing instuctural materials to secondary schools in Kaduna state towards improve standard of education.

Thus, discussing  the aforementioned issues among, following claims of potential shortcomings leveled against the management of education and the standard  in Kaduna State, Nigeria, which is the motivational factor that necessitated the investigation on comparative analysis on the management of public and private secondary schools in Kaduna state, Nigeria. as a scholarly contribution to knowledge and learning, become the problem which this study intends to address emperically.

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The mojor objective of this study was to determine the Comparative Analysis of Management of Public and Private Secondary Schools in Kaduna State, Nigeria. The specific objective are to:

• determine whether any difference exists between the management of public and private secondary schools with regards to employment of teachers in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
• establish whether any difference exists between the management of public and private secondary schools with regards to provision of instructional materials in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
• assess whether any difference exists between the management of public and private secondary schools with regards to school supervision in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
• findout whether any difference exists between the management of public and private secondary schools with regards to provision of infrastructural facilities in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
• investigate whether any difference exists between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to students enrolment ratio in Kaduna

State, Nigeria.

 

 

1.4  Research Questions

In line with the specific objectives answers were sought to the following research questions:

• What is the difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to employment of teachers in Kaduna State, Nigeria?
• What is the difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to provision of instructional materials in kaduna State, Nigeria?
• What is the difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to school supervision in Kaduna State, Nigeria?
• What is the difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to provision of infrastructural facilities in Kaduna State, Nigeria?
• What is the difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to students enrolment ratio in Kaduna State, Nigeria?

1.5  Research Hypotheses

The following research hypotheses were tested in the study:

• There is no significant difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to employment of teachers in Kaduna State, Nigeria;
• There is no significant difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to provision of instructional materials in

Kaduna State, Nigeria;

• There is no significant difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to school supervision in Kaduna State, Nigeria;
• There is no significant difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to infrastructural facilities in Kaduna State,

Nigeria;

• There is no significant difference between management of public and private secondary schools with regards to students enrolment ratio in Kaduna State,

Nigeria;

1.6  Significance of the Study

It‘s, expected that the findings of this study would be beneficial to the following stake holders: ministry of education, proprietors of private schools and parent, principals of public and private schools.

The findings of this dissertation will be of benefit to the Kaduna State ministry of education it is one body responsible for employment of teachers in public schools, monitoring the academic programmes of Kaduna state secondary schools. The ministry should impliment strong strategies of inspection or checking the quality control of the standard among the public and private schools in Kaduna state that will make the recipients of the programme more relevant to the society.

The study findings will motivate the proprietors of private schools within or out side Kaduna state to mentain the standard and help proprietors to provide the items on the checklist in their schools to benefit both staff and the students.

The study will also help to direct the perception of parent about commercialized schools (private schools), seeing that some of the private schools have the required standards checklist.  It further will create competition among the private schools particularly low standard, that motivate parents to send their children to standard schools.

The study will inform school principals both in public and private sechools more about standard requared to run the administration of school, based on standard

checklist.

1.7  Delimitation of the Study

The study was delimited to two (2) Local Government Areas (LGAS) each from three (3) senatorial Zone of Kaduna State namely: Kaduna North Zone, Kaduna South Zone and Kaduna Central Zone, which cover the entire 23 LGA of the state.

The study was also delimited to principals from private and public secondary schools from three senatorial zone, This was done in order to conveniently handle the population which fairly represent the 23 LGA of Kaduna state. The researcher also delimites the procedure for data collection to range from 2005-2010. The researcher choose private and public secondary schools in this study in order to justify the license given to private individual to operate schools  inline with commercialization.

1.8  Basic Assumptions

This study was based on the assumptions that:

• Private and public secondary schools in Kaduna State employ enough teachers in Kaduna State, Nigeria.
• Private and public secondary schools in Kaduna State make enough provision of instructional materials in Kaduna State, Nigeria.

COMPARATIVE STUDY OF ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN KADUNA STATE, NIGERIA   

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