Developing Benchmark for Effective Partnership in the Administration of Adult Education Programmes in the South-east Geo-political Zone of Nigeria

CHAPTER ONE

Purpose of the Study

The main purpose of the study is to develop a benchmark for effective partnership among government, NGOs and donor agencies towards the effective administration of adult education programmes in the South East of Nigeria.

Specifically, the study seeks to:

• Ascertain ways the NGOs and donor agencies could be involved in the Governments’ decision making process for adult education programmes.
• Determine better forms of financial cooperation among government, NGOs and Donor Agencies in the administration of adult education programmes;
• Ascertain ways of establishing partnership in human resources development and management among government, NGOs and donor agencies in the administration of adult education programmes.
• Find out strategies for establishing partnership among government, NGOs and Donor Agencies in the provision of material resources for adult education programmes.
• Ascertain forms of joint monitoring and supervision of adult education programmes by Government, NGOs and donor agencies in the administration of adult education programmes.

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

Introduction

This chapter deals with the literature related to the study on the topic of factors militating against student’s enrolment in adult education programmes in Rivers state. This was in line with the following study objectives: to establish whether the social cultural gender roles influence student’s enrolment in adult education programmes, student attitudes, teaching and learning resources used in adult education and leaner economic background. A conceptual framework was used to operationalize the variables and lastly the gaps in literature have been summarized.

Concept of adult education

Aitchison (1998) defines adult basic education as education provision for people aged 15 and over who are not engaged in formal schooling or higher education and who have an education level of less than grade 9. For adult students in Nigeria, adult basic education is aimed at students who have dropped out of school before acquiring adequate literacy and numeracy skills and for those students who have never attended school nor received formal educational training.

There is an ever-increasing gap between the rich and the poor in this country. In addition, a large percentage of adults in Nigeria today are not able to fully enjoy what the country‟s democracy offers because they lack basic literacy skills. Access to education through Adult basic centre is one of the ways in which the gap between the rich and poor can be bridged. Prior to 1994, the educational system in Nigeria was characterized by: Racially segregated teaching and learning at every level from preschool to higher education system that was fragmented into different departments of education serving not only the four population categories.

In these fragmented educational departments, there were disparities in the levels of education received. The implication of the latter meant that many people in the workplace after 1994 would need to be trained and re-trained. An urgent need for adult education was recognized at the „World Forum on Education for All‟ in Dakar in 2000. At this forum, the following were cited as some of the most important reasons why each and every citizen should receive an education:

Adult education centers enables students to be more supportive of their children‟s education, When adults are involved with the development of their own education through ABEC in local schools, they are more inclined to participate and involve themselves in these schools, Through ABEC students are in a better position to address issues such as poverty and social injustices, ABEC also has a pertinent role to play in addressing and alleviating gender inequity, In addition, a review research by Oxenham et al., (2002) on ABEC and improved livelihoods found that ABEC students generally perceive Literacy and Numeracy as: protection against being cheated and manipulated in the market place, skills to quantify gains in lifetime income, getting access to credit, an entry into vocational skills training, and realizing tangible short term incomes.

CHAPTER THREE

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Research Design

The study used a descriptive survey research design. Descriptive survey research according to (Nwaogu, 2015), tries to unravel the major elements and characteristics of any phenomenon or attitude. The descriptive design also focuses on people and their beliefs, opinions, attitudes, motivations and behaviour, (Obetta & Oreh, 2017). The study covered the five states in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria namely; Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo. The choice of this zone was motivated by the fact that this area is well known for their efforts in acquiring education. But the absence of benchmark as a measure for effective partnership in the administration of adult education in the zone seems to limit their effective participation in adult education programmes.

Population of Study

The population of the study was 3202 subjects. It included all the sixty-two(62) proprietors of NGO’s operating Adult Education Centres, all the five (5) State Directors of Agencies of Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education, all the fifteen (15) Coordinators/State Programme Monitoring Advisers (SPMA’s) in all the UNDP, UNICEF and UNESCO offices and all the three thousand, one hundred and twenty (3,120) adult education instructors in the five states (Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu and Imo). (source, NMEC Zonal Office, 2009).

CHAPTER FOUR

RESULTS

 

CHAPTER FIVE

CONCLUSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSION

Discussion

Ways of Partnership among Government, NGOs and Donor Agencies on Human Resource Development andManagement in the Administration of Adult Education Programmes

The respondents (Table 1) agreed to all the items which include quarterly submission of records by NGOs to NMEC for planning scheme for the instructors and special provision of in-service training for instructors as ways of stakeholder’s partnership on human resources development and management in administration of adult education programmes.

This is line with the stated responsibilities of the National Commission for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal Education (NMEC) whose responsibilities include among other things the coordination of all adult education activities undertaken by the NGOs within the state (NMEC, 2015). According to the National Blueprint for Adult and Non-formal Education (2015), the government should organize seminar, conferences and workshops for instructors for their training and development in adult education principles and practice.

Furthermore, the finding is in line with Hinzen M.R (2008) who observed that the success of any adult literacy programme depends on some checklists which include facilitators to be those who receive substantial initial training and regular refresher training, and the payment of facilitator/instructors the equivalent of the minimum wage of a primary school teacher. Consequently, Nwabuko (2014) found out that instructors of adult education programmes are not committed to their duties largely due to the fact they are poorly paid. According to the author, their salaries range from N350 to N500 per month which is not very rewarding and cannot motivate them to show commitment. Little wonder UNESCO (2016) reported that most instructors in adult computer literacy programmes are part-time workers. This goes to support the present study that there is a need for a partnership of stakeholders.

Conclusion

Based on the findings of the study, the following conclusions were drawn.

The State Agency for Mass Literacy, Adult and Non-formal education officials, proprietors of adult education centres, coordinators of donor agencies and instructors agreed on the suggested ways in which government, NGOs and donor agencies can be involved in human resource management and development, in the administration of adult education programmes.

They agreed on all the forms of material resources provision partnership among stakeholders as suggested by the study.

 Recommendations

• The state agencies of Mass Educations NGOs and donor agencies should cooperate and organize regular conference programmes and adult education for their staff. This is necessary since conference programmes are good avenues for improving instructors for their job. NGOs centres should submit quarterly the records of their staff strength to NMEC for planning purposes. This will enable NMEC to involve their staff in general human resource development
• State agencies of Mass Education, NGOs and donor agencies should collaborate in developing material inmulti-language in adult education and provide adequate books for learners. The government should provide free accommodation for adult education programmes of  These are necessary since NGOs cannot provide all the material resources needed in the various centres as most of the materials are specially made for adult teaching and learning.
• The state agencies for Mass Education, NGOs and donor agencies. This is necessary since programmemonitoring and supervision improve programme implementation; stimulate professional growth and development of instructors for enhanced performance in their  State agencies for mass education should include the staff of NGOs and donor agencies as programmes supervisors; organize centrally the training programme of monitors and supervisors. This is necessary to engender the desired partnership among the stakeholders.

Competing Interests Statement

The authors declare that there are no competing or potential conflicts of interest.

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