Investigating The Contributing Factors To Failures Of Educational Policies In Public Secondary Schools In Owerri Municipal Of Imo State

ABSTRACT

This study investigated the contributing factors to failures of educational policies in public secondary schools in Owerri municipal of Imo state. Study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The questionnaire was the instrument used for data collection with a sample size of 364 drawn from the population of 728 teachers from 7public secondary schools in Owerri municipal through simple random sampling technique. A 20-item modified 4-point liken instrument titled “Contributing factors to failures of educational policies in public secondary schools” (CFEPPSS) was used to collect data for answering 4 research questions. The instrument was validated by experts and reliability co-efficient of 0.83 established Means were used to answer research questions. It was found among others that short term of key office holders as well as lack of adequate mobilization is how inadequate preparation and mobilization on the part of policy developers con tributes to failure of educational policies in Nigeria. On many occasions those who are expected to implement policies lack the understanding of the policy provisions and so cannot plan effectively. There have been cases of non-release of funds meant for execution of programmes. Supervision has not been given the attention it deserves in the scheme of things in Nigeria‘s educational endeavours. It recommended among others that government should discourage the habit of regular policy change based on films’ reasons or promise of superficial results when reality on round does not dictates or indicate any sign of the same.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

This chapter is organized under the following subheadings; background to the study statement of the problem, scope of the study, purpose of the study, significance of the study and research questions

Background to the Study

Education is the process of acquiring new values and skills for the purpose of effective functioning in the society. It involves a pedagogical process, which if properly carried out should lead to the maturing of the person who has received it, to the extent that he is positioned to think and act meaningfully and in relevant interaction with members of society to their mutual benefit (Etuic Ering and Ajake, 2012).

In the views of Adepoju (2007) education is tool for the acquisition of skills, relevant knowledge and habits for surviving in the changing world. As such in every society, the education sector stands as a medium through which positive transformation could be achieved. The place of education in national development cannot be overstressed. Its importance is stressed in the opening statement of the National policy of education (2014) where it is maintained that education in Nigeria is an instrument ‘par excellence’ for effecting national development. It becomes necessary therefore that educational policies are well articulated and implemented Towards the attainment of educational goals. Simply put, policy is a principle to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. It is a statement of intent. In other words, it involves the identifications of different alternatives available to the policy formulator in which priorities are set and choices made among these priorities based on their impacts on the overall objectives 11w which the policy is formulated. Okunamiri (2010) considers policy as an overall guide that gives the general limits and direction in which administrative actions will take place. For him, a policy determines the area where decisions are to be made but does not give decisions. A policy brings about meaningful relationship between organizational objectives and functions as it discourages deviation from planned course of action. A policy ensures consistency of action and because every organization is governed by approved principle, it should not be right rather, it should be flexible enough to accommodate adjustments where necessary, even after its formulation. Policies should not only be formulated but should also be programmed, communicated and evaluated. Policy is unavoidable in any reasonable, functional and result- oriented in the organization in the society.

Educational policy on the other hand is an initiative mostly by governments that determines the direction of educational system. Nigeria’s education policy is one of the social policies of government used in strengthening and improving the wellbeing of her citizens. Since after independence in 1960, successive governments have not relented in efforts to improve the quality of the nation’s education system via education policies. This is evident in the most recent National Policy on Educational of 2004, which is just an improvement upon that of 1998. A look at the current educational policy shows that it covers the following areas; pre-primary education, primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, mass literacy, adult and non- formal education, special education, educational services as well as financing administration, and supervision of education. A special feature of this current educational policy is however the modification of the 6-3-3-4 system of education into a 9-3-4 system and the Universal Basic Education, which caters for educational needs of individual within the first 9 years.

In line with Millennium Development goals (MDGs), the Federal Government of Nigeria launched a new educational policy in 2004, which has among other features, the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme. The primary target of the UBE aspect of this new educational policy was ensuring that every Nigerian child acquires a minimum of 9 years basic education. Given the unstable and consequently unreliable socioeconomic realities in Nigeria, one cannot but wonder how far the UBE programme can go in meeting its target and achieving its set objectives. In every society, including the very advanced ones of Europe and America, education has remained the major social structure for capacity building. As such if Nigeria must compete favourably with other societies in today’s globalized world in the area of skilled manpower capable of effecting desired societal change, the issue of education must be accorded utmost priority. Given that basic education provides the foundation for any educational pursuit, it becomes necessary for the basic education programme to be given fundamental attention.

In 2004, the National Policy on education was revisited and revised, Although this latest policy incorporated the features of the previous one, the 2004 policy had a few new additions, the most outstanding being the 9-3-4 education structure, backed up by the Universal Basic Education. The 9-3-4 structure requires 9 years of basic education, (which combines 6 years of primary and 3 years of junior secondary education) 3 years of senior secondary education and a minimum of 4 years of university education. From the foregoing, one may agree with the researchers that policy making is riot the problem with Nigerian education but achieving the goals of several policies made. Against this background, the researchers deemed it necessary to investigate the contributing factors to failure of educational policies in public secondary education, placing the focus on public secondary schools in Owerri Municipal of Imo State.

Statement of the Problem

The Nigerian education system has been subject of discussion by different authors. Some of the discussions are positive pointing to government attempts at making the system relevant and beneficial to the generality of those who pass through it. However, many of the discussions have been negative pointing to its deficiencies and inability to produce graduates who meet the expectations of the society. For instance, Obijiofor (2011) and Idris (2011) are among the recent commentators on the 9-3-4 education policy introduced by the Federal Government of Nigeria on the 8th November, 2007. Their comments bothered majorly on unjustifiable reasons for opting for another education policy when the 6-3-3-4 was not religiously followed for study is an attempt to investigate, the contributing factors that make Nigerian education system not to maximally achieve the purpose of educational policies, leading to frequent changes in educational policies by every successive government.

 Scope of the Study

This study covers seven public secondary schools in Owerri Municipal of Imo State. Its focused respondents are all the teachers in the said schools; It is delimited in finding out the contributing factors to failure of educational policies in the area under the study.

 Purpose of the Study

The general purpose of this study is to investigate the factors contributing to failure of educational policies in Nigeria, a study of secondary schools in Owerri Municipal of Imo State. But specifically, the study tries to;

1. Examine how inadequate preparation and mobilization contributes to failure of educational policies.
2. Ascertain how poor planning and lack of understanding of the policy provisions contributes to failure of educational policies
3. Identify how government lip service contributes to failure of educational policies
4. Find out how passive or complete absence of supervision contributes to failure of educational policies.

Significance of the Study

This study may conclude by affording a base for unearthing solutions and forming greater understanding of the application of functional strategic ways of effective implementation of educational system and policies of Nigeria.

This research shall enable the educationists and policy makers as well as future researchers to gain an in depth view of factors contributing to failure of educational policies in Nigeria. Thus they would be able to bring about a change in the way our children are educated making them the future generations better than the current and not vice versa.

If the recommendations from this study are adhered to, it will serve as a pin point on how to tackle the problems of policy failure and implementations in educational sector of Nigeria.

The recommendations from this study will help educational policy makers to incorporate some of the ideas in this study as a base for enactment of future National Policy on Education.

A successful completion of this study will help bridge the gap between low level education and general policy implementation. It will also help to curtail the numerous problems of educational policy implementation in Nigeria. It will also serve as a guide for future educational; policy students in Nigeria. This work will serve as a reference material for future researches in the area of educational policy formulation and implementation.

Research Questions

The following research questions were formulated by the researcher to guide the study in line with the purpose of the study;

1. What ways do inadequate preparation and contributes to failure of educational policies?
2. What ways do poor planning and lack of understanding of the policy provisions contributes to failure of educational policies?
3. What ways do government lip service rather than being actively working at realization of objectives contributes to failure of educational policies?
4. What ways do passive or completely absent supervision contributes to failure of educational policies?
   

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   Pages:  74

   Category: Project

   Format:  Word & PDF               

   Chapters: 1-5                                          

   Source: Imsuinfo                            

   Material contains Table of Content, Abstract and References.       

   

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