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AN APPRAISAL OF COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background of the Study

Secondary school education occupies a very unique position in the educational system in Nigeria, because it is that level that determines the academic and professional career of students. Education at secondary school level is defined by Federal Government of Nigeria (FGN, 2004), as the form of education children receive after primary education and before the tertiary stage. The aim of secondary education is to prepare the individuals for useful living within the society; and for higher education. Nigeria as a country is faced with a lot of crises in her educational industry Ogundele (2008) in Ijamu, (2015). These crises had been attributed to inadequate funding, poor and irregular payment of salaries, students’ population explosion, poor teachers’ job satisfaction, and inadequate supply of educational facilities and needed equipment for effective teaching-learning process. The result of this brings about low quality and fallen standard of education in our secondary school system.

 Due to the inability of Government to attend to these issues, involvement of community participation in the administration of public secondary schools becomes inevitable. According to Bondesio (2000), influence is the ability to cause desirable and measurable actions and outcomes. It seems that community can participate in secondary school administration in Nigeria. Influence of community in the study refers to the actions exerted by the communities that cause positive change and bring about efficient and effective secondary school administration in Benue state. In this context, the study is used to determine the influence of community participation in the administration of public secondary school in Benue state.

The extent to which the secondary school system is able to accomplish its objectives is determined by efficient and effective administration. Secondary schools in the study refer to all the secondary schools that are owned, financed and managed by the Benue State government. The school is the agent of socialization after the home. Therefore, the school exists for the community and the community exists and acts as clients to the school. Administration is the ability to put persons into working order and telling them what to do and how to do it so that a specified end will be accomplished. Administration is generally defined as the process of working with and through others to efficiently accomplish organizational goals (Aguba, 2009). In the words of Veig (2001) in Olowe (2007), administration is a determined action taken in pursuit of conscious purpose. It is the matching of available labour and materials in order to gain that which is desired at the harvest cost of energy, time and money (Famade, 2004).

The central purpose of administration in general is the coordination of human and material resources towards the attainment of some predetermined objectives. Administration of secondary school in this study refers to the extent to which secondary schools achieve its goals by producing students who have gained knowledge, who are disciplined and have developed appropriate skills and moral value system that can make them function in the society through effective school administration. It entails working with and through teachers, non-teaching staff and students to get things done effectively.

In Nigeria and indeed in many other African countries, the typical image of a community is that of a medium sized rural village with a close-knit group of inhabitants, largely, self-contained with everybody knowing and standing in accepted relationship with one another (Amujiri, 2000).No school is situated in an island. Every school is found in a community (Abraham, 2003). This is because the community makes the catchment area of the school. Ngoka (2003) observes that a community is a body of people living in the same locality and having a common religion, race cultural and historical heritage and 

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