The Influence of Politics on the Management of Secondary Schools in Nigeria
Chapter One
OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY
The main objective of the study is to investigate the influence of politics on the management of secondary school in Nigeria, specifically the study intends to:
- Find out the extent politics influences the funding of secondary schools in Nigeria.
- Ascertain whether politics influences staff personnel administration of secondary schools in Nigeria.
- Investigate whether politics have a significant influences on the provision of educational facilities in secondary schools in Nigeria.
- Find out whether politics influences administrative task area of school community relation in secondary schools in Nigeria.
CHAPTER TWO
REVIEW OF LITERATURE
INTRODUCTION
Our focus in this chapter is to critically examine relevant literature that would assist in explaining the research problem and furthermore recognize the efforts of scholars who had previously contributed immensely to similar research. The chapter intends to deepen the understanding of the study and close the perceived gaps.
Precisely, the chapter will be considered in three sub-headings:
CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
Concept of Management
Management has been described in a variety of ways. Management is the effective organization and utilization of human and material resources in a particular system for the achievement of identified objectives (Ogunu, 2001). It has also been defined as a social process which is designed to ensure the cooperation, participation, intervention and involvement of others in the effective achievement of a given or predetermined objective (UNESCO, 1979). Management according to Mgbodile (1986) simply means the process or method whereby a group of people at the top level of the government plan, organize, communicate, co-ordinate, control and directs the actions and activities of those who work in an organization in order to achieved the stated objectives of the organization. In addition, Management in the view of Peretomode (1996) is a social or interaction process involving a sequence of coordinated events – planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling or leading in order to use available resources to achieve a desired outcome in the fastest and most efficient way. Again, Nwachukwu (1988) defined management as the coordination of all the resources of an organization through the process of planning, organizing, directing and controlling in order to attain organizational objectives. For Obi (2003) management involves the strategy of innovation, initiating change, creative problem solving, and decision making. It also involves actively seeking out alternatives and opportunities, reformulating goals, and priorities, redeploying resources, negotiating and resolving conflicts. It involves dynamic or active leadership diplomacy, statesmanship and a high degree of risk taking and entrepreneurship. The above definitions imply that management is a social process which is dynamic in nature and has goals to achieve. It does not consist of formula of fixed pattern; hence, management involves planning, organizing, staffing, directing, controlling and coordinating all the efforts of people towards the achievement of goals. In summary, management can be looked at as the process through which human and non-human resources are effectively and efficiently used to achieve the stated goals of an organization or institution like schools and hospitals. There are such types as education management, business management and hospital management. For this reason, Obi (2003) sees secondary school management as the process of achieving educational objectives through efficient utilization of available human and material resources. This definition also implies that educational management involves planning, organizing, controlling, coordinating and evaluation of human and material resources.
The importance of management in secondary schools cannot be over- emphasized. It is with an efficient management that an institution like secondary school can plan, organize, staff, control, direct and coordinate its activities to achieve predetermined goals. The task of the administrator is to establish the environment for group efforts in a way that individuals will contribute to group objectives with the least amount of input as money, time, effort, comfort and materials. Similarly, another important role of management in secondary school is related to the fact that the activities involved in the business of educational management are macro aggregates which are aimed at enhancing the education process. They affect the entire educational system with the sub-systems: pre- primary, primary, secondary and tertiary needs in a systematic process to achieve the needs of educational objective, and to achieve the educational objective needs of management process which involves planning, organizing, staffing, directing, coordinating, reporting and budgeting respectively. Management process can, therefore, be regarded as the sum total of the various processes of planning, organizing, stimulating, coordinating, communicating and evaluation, which aid administrators in the utilization of resources in the achievement of organizational goals. It is within this context that management process will be discussed in this study. The key elements of the management process to be discussed include planning, decision-making, organizing, motivating or stimulating, coordinating and evaluating.
Planning: To plan is to decide in advance what is to be done and how to do it. Except where an individual is careless and chooses to leave everything to chance, common sense dictates that planning is needed in every aspect of human life. In agreement with the above, Ezeocha (1990) stated that planning comprises many parts, roles, and actors and co-operation is essential for achieving educational goals and objective.
CHAPTER THREE
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Introduction
In this chapter, we described the research procedure for this study. A research methodology is a research process adopted or employed to systematically and scientifically present the results of a study to the research audience viz. a vis, the study beneficiaries.
Research Design
Research designs are perceived to be an overall strategy adopted by the researcher whereby different components of the study are integrated in a logical manner to effectively address a research problem. In this study, the researcher employed the survey research design. This is due to the nature of the study whereby the opinion and views of people are sampled. According to Singleton & Straits, (2009), Survey research can use quantitative research strategies (e.g., using questionnaires with numerically rated items), qualitative research strategies (e.g., using open-ended questions), or both strategies (i.e. mixed methods). As it is often used to describe and explore human behaviour, surveys are therefore frequently used in social and psychological research.
Population of the Study
According to Udoyen (2019), a study population is a group of elements or individuals, as the case may be, who share similar characteristics. These similar features can include location, gender, age, sex or specific interest. The emphasis on study population is that it constitutes individuals or elements that are homogeneous in description.
This study was carried out on the influence of politics on the management of secondary school in Nigeria using selected public secondary school in southeast Nigeria as a case study. Hence, the population of this study consist of school administrators in the selected public secondary school in southeast Nigeria.
CHAPTER FOUR
DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS
INTRODUCTION
This chapter presents the analysis of data derived through the questionnaire and key informant interview administered on the respondents in the study area. The analysis and interpretation were derived from the findings of the study. The data analysis depicts the simple frequency and percentage of the respondents as well as interpretation of the information gathered. A total of one hundred and nineteen (119) questionnaires were administered to respondents of which one hundred and nine (109) were returned while one hundred (100) were validated. This was due to irregular, incomplete and inappropriate responses to some questionnaire. For this study a total of 100 was validated for the analysis.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS:
Introduction
This chapter summarizes the findings on the influence of politics on the management of secondary school in Nigeria using selected public secondary school in southeast Nigeria as a case study. The chapter consists of summary of the study, conclusions, and recommendations.
Summary of the Study
In this study, our focus was on the influence of politics on the management of secondary school in Nigeria using selected public secondary school in southeast Nigeria as a case study. The study is was specifically carried out to; find out the extent politics influences the funding of secondary schools in Nigeria, ascertain whether politics influences staff personnel administration of secondary schools in Nigeria, investigate whether politics have a significant influences on the provision of educational facilities in secondary schools in Nigeria, and find out whether politics influences administrative task area of school community relation in secondary schools in Nigeria.
The study adopted the survey research design and randomly enrolled participants in the study. A total of 100 responses were validated from the enrolled participants where all respondent were school administrators in the selected public secondary school in southeast Nigeria.
Conclusions
Based on the findings of this study, the researcher concluded that;
- The extent to which politics influences the funding of secondary schools in Nigeria is high.
- Politics influences staff personnel administration of secondary schools in Nigeria.
- Politics has a significant influence on the provision of educational facilities in secondary schools in Nigeria.
- Politics influence administrative task area of school community relation in secondary schools in Nigeria.
Recommendations
Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are proffered.
- Government in the South-east states should ensure that there are no favouritism in the disbursement of funds in secondary schools and the appointment of finance officers should not be based in politics, this politics is bound to adversely affect the provision of management of funds in secondary schools.
- The post primary school management boards in the different states should ensure different eschew preferential appointments of principals as this generate conflict in schools, also the issue of favouritism in the appointment of staff to work in the school system should be avoided since this lead to appointment of mediocrate in the system.
- The states governments should avoid quota system in the provision of facilities and equipment in schools. This is because these leads to differentials in the quality and quantity of schools.
- Politics should be played with caution in the appointment or selection of principal officers.
- Politics should be played with caution in the siting of secondary schools with the full knowledge of the result of the feasilibility study of the environment. This is to ensure the accessibility of the teachers and the students in other to achieve the aims and objective of secondary schools in the federation.
REFERENCES
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- Anyanwu, G.O. (1999). Administrative Problems of Secondary Schools as perceived by Principals in Igbo-Etiti, Awgu and Enugu Local Government Areas of Enugu State. Unpublished U.G. thesis, Nsukka: Faculty of Education, University of Nigeria, Nsukka.
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- Bush, T. (2003).Theories of educational management. National Council of Professor: http://cox.org/content/m13867/1.1/.
