A SURVEY OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN PRIMARY EDUCATION FINANCING
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
THE STUDY’S BACKGROUND
Education is critical to a country’s development. Education is a tool that can help a country’s social, political, and economic growth. The most advanced countries in the world, such as the United Kingdom and the United States of America, have achieved this level of development through adequate planning and funding of education. The success of any educational system is dependent on proper planning, efficient administration, and adequate funding.
However, one of the problems confronting educational development today is the financial aspect of education. This is because a large percentage of the Nigerian population is illiterate, which causes them to deform and leads to poor performance in planning.
According to Salariu (1982), approximately 25% of Nigerians are literate, while the remaining 75% are illiterate. The various governments of Nigeria have recognized education as a catalyst for nation building and have worked to improve all aspects of our education system at the primary, secondary, and tertiary levels.
For example, the federal government has not provided the nation’s education system with an education policy, but large sums of money are allocated to other sectors such as road construction rather than education. To demonstrate the level of involvement in education as claimed, the government spent sixty thousand, four hundred and sixty five naira on primary education alone (N60, 465).
To cover infrastructure, personnel, and equipment commitments (first progress report on the third national development plan (1975-1980), this expenditure should not be viewed as a surprise, but rather as a justification of the claim in national policy on education, that education is no longer a private venture, but a huge government venture that has witnessed a progressive evaluation of government complete on dynamic intervention and active participatory.
Historically, education in Nigeria has gone through several stages of development. Nigeria had an indigenous system of education for all members of the communities prior to the introduction of formal education. The western was introduced to us in the early nineteenth century. Local communities embraced this education because it allows for their participation in the education.
The schools at the time were missionary-controlled, with local communities participating as members of the mission. The government assumed complete control of education and was solely responsible for financing it with oil becoming, and participation of local communities was discouraged, resulting in distortion of the entire educational system.
Prior to the government taking over school, Christian and Muslim voluntary agencies and organizations were in charge of education.
They funded, administrated, and controlled them. The communities, too, did not relent in their efforts to participate in the financing of education beyond the construction of a school and staff quarters for their teachers. A case in point is Holy Community School, Ozoro, and Community Primary School, Oleu, both in Edo state’s Igueben Local Government Area, where communities did participate in the construction of the school and staff quarters for their teachers.
All of these efforts were directed toward the administration of education prior to the government’s takeover. However, the scope of government spending has expanded, and the nation’s economy is in a state of paralysis. In this regard, the weakness of the weak, she looks for alternative ways of financing primary education or, at the very least, sharing the responsibilities with other primary financing sources.
To be honest, there is no denying that Nigerian schools are far below standard due to a lack of resources to fund their school facilities, and teacher salaries are not paid on time. In response to this situation, the government enacted Decree 3 of 1991, which transferred primary education funding and administration to local governments.
This federal government announcement has caused significant disruption in the education sector because local governments cannot afford to shoulder the responsibility of managing this critical level of education. This situation exacerbates Nigeria’s already deteriorating primary education standard.
The federal government now provides primary education in this country. However, things are not in order. As a result, the purpose of this study is to investigate community participation in primary school administration in the Igueben Local Government Area.
PROBLEM STATEMENT
Historically, analysis has shown that primary education in Nigeria is in a precarious position due to the federal government’s obligation to seek alternative sources of financing education, particularly from local communities, voluntary agencies, philanthropists, and individuals, despite evidence that government alone cannot provide the necessary materials.
In fact, this has deteriorated the teaching and learning environment in primary school to the point where unrest is the order of the day. Igueben Local Government, as part of the larger Nigerian society, has its own share of the problem, which can be complex and peculiar.
For example, if teachers’ salaries are not paid, the teaching and learning environment is jeopardized. Teaching aids are not provided, school buildings are dilapidated, and primary school administration is befuddled as a result of the communities’ failure to participate in the financing of the primary education system.
If informal education is to be useful to communities, it has become necessary for local communities to participate adequately in the financing of primary education, especially at this level of education, which is the bedrock on which the success or failure of the entire national education depends.
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
This study aims to investigate and examine the extent of community participation in financing primary education in Igueben Local Government Area, Edo State, or the federal government alone, because otherwise, nothing good will be accomplished.
Furthermore, the study will assist in correcting the following: individual, voluntary agencies, and local communities to reconsider their position on providing basic materials and adequate financial assistance to public schools in order to bail them out of their current financial predicament.
QUESTION FOR RESEARCH
The following questions must be answered because they will shed light on the extent to which primary education can be encouraged in Nigeria as a whole, and specifically in Igueben Local Government Area.
1. Is it possible to achieve effective management if communities fully fund primary education?
2. Is it possible to achieve sound and standard education if there is a joint primary education and local communities in financing primary education?
3. Does the current crisis in primary school management in Nigeria suggest that the government alone cannot fund primary education?
4. Does the government’s takeover of primary education financing impede community participation in primary education financing?
5. To what extent will community participation in financing primary education aid in improving student education?
THE STUDY’S IMPORTANCE
The value of education in a society and a nation cannot be overstated. Because it makes people easy to read but difficult to govern, easy to govern but impossible to sustain. We will learn how far the people of the land have fulfilled the above statement through this work.
Again, the Igueben Local Government has a track record when it comes to literacy and educational programs. As a result, there is a need to conduct this type of research because it will be useful to educational planners and organizers of the various educational programs of the local government in particular.
The most serious issue confronting our educational programs today is a lack of sufficient funds to carry out educational programs with educational development or program already planned activities. So, what are we going to do to get out of this mess? This research will propose appropriate solutions that will be of interest to those concerned with educational development.
TERMS DEFINITION
The following are some definitions of key terms used in this study:
A community is a group of people who live together and have similar interests. In this passage, the term “community” referred to various towns and villages in the Igueben Local Government Area.
Primary education is the beginning of raising our children in a formal setting to meet the needs of the community. It is a basic knowledge institution, but in this study, primary education specifically includes government-owned public schools.
Financing is the involvement of people or a community in items of labor or finance to improve proper management and development.
Participation is the involvement of individuals or groups in the labor, finance, and human resource sectors in order to improve proper management and development.
Community development refers to the growth of democratic participation, which enables people to cooperate and embrace the spirit of self-help in the implementation of development programs.
Do You Have New or Fresh Topic? Send Us Your Topic
A SURVEY OF COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT IN PRIMARY EDUCATION FINANCING