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APPRAISAL OF BUDGETARY PRACTICES IN GRANT-AIDED SECONDARY SCHOOLS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Education is a concept. It has a prominent function towards the development of human capital in Nigeria. It is used to equip citizens with diverse skills and knowledge that supports man's daily interactions with their environment. As a result, the sources and utilization of funds to education is shared between public and private participation in Nigeria.

Financing education in Nigeria was discussed in the studies by Adeyemi (2011) citing Osuntokun (2003). He stated that public finance is the collection and disbursement of funds for public use; that, it is the means of providing for the expenditure involved in the staffing, equipping and maintenance of educational institutions. Charles (2002) found that the financing of education as an aspect of public finance embraces all aspects of funding of education including the sources of funding and how the money earmarked for education is spent especially for the purchase of goods and the services of men and materials.

The importance of adequate financing of education was stressed by Taggert (2003). He asserted that finance is of vital importance to education and economic growth. He revealed that the financing of education can be derived from fees paid by parents, repayable loans to parents, local government taxes, general budgetary funds, gifts and remission of taxes. Observation about taxes shows that taxes are a growing source of public finance, hence tax is an important source of educational finance.

Thorniley (2003) agreed with the argument by remarking that in developing countries, education is entirely financed by taxation.

Utilization of funds implies expenditures on consumable goods such as books, stationery and fuel as well as services which bring immediate or short-time benefits. Chan, Chen and Steiner (2002) showed that educational funds are utilized on capital expenditures as expenditures on durable assets such as building and equipment are expected to yield benefits over a longer period. The measurement of expenditure according to them includes the expenditure by pupils, their families, charities and the state. That, the total costs of education to an individual are divided into monetary expenditures borne by him and opportunity costs while the true economic cost of education is the cost of acting in a different manner, that is, foregoing the opportunity of doing one thing in order to do something else.

In the same line of thought Psacharopolis (1985) indicated that human capital is very relevant to production. Thus, spending on human capital has in its long run the benefit for the development of society. He reasoned that countries, particularly those with low per capita income view investment in education as a means to stir their country towards development. Thus, for such countries, the result of this fast growing awareness is the massive investment that most nations put into their education industry to fast track their economic development. The Cruz of the above position can be readily observed in the position of Nwagwu (1983) that "Education is the acquisition of the self discipline necessary for life's adventure in a fast growing world". In other words, education goes beyond the classroom, it entails all encompassing approaches and conceptualization of activities.

The importance of education in human development can hardly be estimated or over emphasized in the evolution of any community or society. The United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as cited by Faure (1972) sees education as a biological necessity for the development of the individual and society. In other words, education plays the role of an instrument for the survival of the individual and the society as well as fostering national unity and transformation of social and economic facets of the society (Fafunwa, 1972). It is not surprising therefore that the Federal Republic of Nigeria has adopted; Education as a dynamic instrument of change, an instrument per excellence for affecting national development. Any fundamental changes in the intellectual and social outlook of any society has to be preceded by an educational revolution. Not only is education the greatest force that can be used to bring about redress. It is also the greatest investment that any nation can make for the quickest development of its economic, political, sociological and human resources (Federal Republic of Nigeria, FRN, 2004:2).

In stressing the importance of education in the 21 century, Singh (1991) an architect of Nigerian Vision 2010, recommended that the Federal Government and all  the tiers of Government of the nation should spend 25% of their annual budgets on education. This recommendation is in line with the UNESCO prescription for developing countries. What this implies is that investment on education arose from the conviction that: the nations' economy. Added to this also, there is a great need for expansion and reforms in the educational system to ensure quality in meeting the popular demand of the people to which in turn led to increase enrolment of students with a corresponding decrease in physical facilities in schools, all these which are constitutional responsibility of the government. Advancing this view, Akpotu (2008) cited from Aghenta (1986) noted that about 40% of the budget at the state level according to his observation is earmarked for education.

Apart from the payment of teachers' salaries which today form the bulk of recurrent expenditure in the educational sectors, other areas of importance such as laboratories equipment, books in the libraries and infrastructural facilities are all yearning for supply and improvement while the funds from all sources remain inadequate (Garba, 2012). The National Policy on Education (FRN, 2004) emphasizes the re-ordering of the country's educational goals in relation to meeting the environmental conditions and the realities of the modern world order and rapid social change. This is because education is seen as an agent for societal change and for such a plan to be effective, there has to be a thorough and goal driven monitoring and implementation of funds as opined by Ajayi (1984) that there must be adequate fiscal resources and implementation. In other words, for effective educational processes to occur, there must be corresponding adequate resources driven processes for effective implementation and result oriented outcome. The past two decades have witnessed a rising clamor for improvement of the quality of education at the tiers of government, consequently there has been efforts made at improving the condition of service for teachers' provision of infrastructure at all level over the states, salaries seems to have been improved upon and many schools have been built and renovated. All these have impacted on the recurrent cost of education, thus striving for higher quality (Chesswas,1967).

Cost of secondary education is significantly correlated to school expenditure as incurred by the government (Akpotu, 2008). In a broad sense of usage, cost implies resources (money, materials and manpower) used for the operation of a business enterprise (Aghenta, 1984). Cost in education represents the real resources in terms of money and sacrifices put in to produce an educated person (Akpotu, 2008). Basically, cost in education is classified into social and private costs. Akangbou (1987) sees social cost as social investment or government expenditures on education while private cost represents cost incurred by individuals and their household. In other words, cost has to do with the amount of money required in order to procure or obtain certain goods or services.

Omoke (2005) perceived cost as the amount of money that has to be given up in order to obtain a particular commodity or service. In support of this assertion, Akangbon and Adeyemi (1998) defined social cost of education to imply the actual financial expenditures of education by government which include the teachers and non teachers salaries and allowances, expenditures on books, equipment, stationeries, transport, imputed rents on educational buildings, maintenance cost and other expenditures on goods and services. Basically, the cost of education varies from state to state which in turn influences the size of the schools and its location. This is because the cost of education has the potency of influencing the academic performance of the students as that can influence the parental drive for higher quality of education they demand for their children. From the above analysis, it can be said that education cost or funding is a process of estimating the total amount of money to be lodged into educational services, how the money will be distributed and accounted for and the extent the money has been utilized to achieve educational goals (Olakulchin, 2011).

A look at the present situation in our educational sector is plagued with several challenges ranging from dilapidating building and facilities to inadequate facilities due to increasing number of students enrolment, facilities are depreciating with age and lack of maintenance. Regardless of the orchestrated role of education in a developmental process, the problem facing the respective government is how to strike a balance between the viable funding of education and providing funds for other socio-economic projects in the health, agriculture, water, transportation and settlement. Consequently, it has become very obvious that poor funding has led to the dilapidation of the nations educational institution and of course the learning standard of quality education as pointed out in office of the Minister of Economic Matters (FRN, 2004:52) that:

i. The schools at all levels lacked teachers and basic infrastructures

ii. The schools suffer from overcrowding, poor sanitation, poor management and poor intra sector allocation.

This poor funding of education has a great effect on the quality of education generally as observed by Ekanem, (2013); The present state epitomizes the decay of academics. The old revered institutions are fallen into disrepute because of poor funding and degeneration of their academic traditions. We now have education without enlightenment, information without thought, data without analysis and social relations without grace.

There is no doubt that financial crises are crippling the educational institution thereby making it difficult to produce quality individuals and ideas that are needed by the society and the individual beneficiaries.

The question of who should fund education is not only in Nigeria. Those who are of the view that education is a right of every citizen believe that the government at all levels should pay for the cost of education. While there are those who hold the view that education is a capital investment not social consumption. Therefore, the cost of education should be shared by the society and the immediate beneficiaries (Ovwromo,2014). Hence, in Nigeria, these attendant problems of funding education are well articulated. To this regard, the federal government admitted that the government alone cannot finance education and therefore call on the public, although there was no well defined intent and mechanism of obtaining funds. Education is an expensive social service and requires adequate financial provision from all tiers of government for successful implementation of the education programmes. Government ultimate goal is to make education free at all levels. The financing of education is a joint responsibility of the federal, state and local government and the private sector. In this connection, the government welcomes and encourages the participation of local communities, individuals and other organizations (FRN, 2004:61).

The past two decades have witnessed a rising clamor for the improvement of the quality of education at federal and state government levels and consequently, there has been efforts made at improving the condition of services for teachers and provision of infrastructural facilities all over the states as salaries seems to have improved and many schools have been built and renovated. All these have impacted on the recurrent expenditure on education as observed by Chesswas (1967) as this has given rise for higher quality of education.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The funding of education at the secondary school level in Nigeria is primarily the responsibility of the government. While public schools in the country, including those in the North Central region, offer free education programs, private schools rely on school fees and other internally generated revenue options. However, due to economic challenges resulting from fluctuations in oil prices on the international market, there has been a reduction in government allocation of funds to secondary education, leading to inadequate funding for public secondary schools. Consequently, many students are opting to enroll in private secondary schools, as parents perceive them to have better funding and academic standards. This shift towards private education has been further fueled by the demand for quality education. Therefore, the study seeks to compare the sources and utilization of funds between public and private secondary schools in the North Central region, Nigeria.

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The main objective of this study is to determine appraisal of budgetary practices in grant-aided secondary schools in north central, Nigeria

Specific objectives include;

1. To assess the budgetary practices currently utilized in grant-aided secondary schools in North Central, Nigeria.

2. To identify the challenges faced by grant-aided secondary schools in implementing their budgets effectively.

3. To propose recommendations for improving budgetary practices in grant-aided secondary schools in North Central, Nigeria.

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. What budgetary practices are commonly employed by grant-aided secondary schools in North Central, Nigeria?

2. What are the main challenges encountered by grant-aided secondary schools in implementing their budgets effectively?

3. What strategies can be adopted to enhance budgetary practices and financial management in grant-aided secondary schools in North Central, Nigeria?

1.5 RESEARCH HYPOTHESES

1. Grant-aided secondary schools in North Central, Nigeria predominantly rely on traditional budgeting methods.

2. Insufficient funding and poor financial oversight contribute significantly to challenges in budget implementation in grant-aided secondary schools in North Central, Nigeria.

3. Implementation of modern budgeting techniques and improved financial monitoring mechanisms will lead to better budgetary practices in grant-aided secondary schools in North Central, Nigeria.

1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The outcome of this study would benefit a host of stakeholders in the educational sector and administration of secondary education in the study area. Particularly, officials from the Ministry of Education in the state and Nigeria in general, school principals who implement Ministry of Education policies, teachers responsible for curriculum implementation at the classroom level, students for whom funds are utilized and researchers in the field of educational administration.

This study would help the government to properly situate its educational policy. This is because officials of the Ministry of Education in Nasarawa State who may have access to this study could use the content as a framework for policy decision making. Such a decision could influence adequate or increase funding resulting in provision of the much needed infrastructural cum instructional material development to ameliorate ailing standards in education, particularly in the public schools.

School principals would benefit from this study because they would be able to accurately account for the expenditure on each child who attended their schools whether in public or private secondary schools. The information contained in this document is capable of enhancing an improved administrative task performance in the school system. In the same vein, secondary school teachers will find the study useful. They would discover how funding of secondary education affects their welfare and the necessary adjustment they would have to make as a result of delayed payment of their salaries. Such delays have often affected the performance of classroom teachers as shown in previous studies.

Students for whom the government provides funding to the secondary school would learn from this study. They would discover that resources are scarce and whatever facilities found in their schools should be judiciously utilized and protected from damage. Also, the study is significant to students because it provides a guide to their parents of the type of school to choose between public and private school. Most parents who may read the findings of the study will be informed of the option and why they should do so.

Finally, the result of this study was intended to call for a review of the policy of funding the secondary education and help both consumers and suppliers of education to properly assess the cost benefits of the best affordable funding policy for the development of the secondary education sector. 

1.7 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study aims to comprehensively evaluate the budgetary practices employed by grant-aided secondary schools in the North Central region of Nigeria. It will investigate various aspects of budget planning, allocation, implementation, and monitoring within these schools. Additionally, the study will explore the challenges faced by these institutions in managing their finances effectively. Recommendations for enhancing budgetary practices will also be proposed based on the findings.

1.8 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

Despite efforts to gather comprehensive data, certain limitations may arise, including potential constraints in accessing accurate financial records from some schools. Additionally, the study's scope is limited to grant-aided secondary schools in the North Central region, potentially affecting the generalizability of findings to other regions or types of educational institutions. Time and resource constraints may also impact the depth of analysis in certain areas.

1.9 DEFINITION OF TERMS

1. Appraisal: A thorough evaluation or assessment of the budgetary practices within grant-aided secondary schools in the North Central region of Nigeria.

2. Budgetary Practices: The methods, procedures, and strategies employed by grant-aided secondary schools to plan, allocate, monitor, and control their financial resources.

3. Grant-Aided Schools:  Educational institutions that receive financial support from governmental or non-governmental agencies to supplement their operational expenses, including staff salaries, infrastructure maintenance, and educational resources.

4. North Central, Nigeria: Geopolitical region in Nigeria comprising states such as Benue, Kogi, Kwara, Nasarawa, Niger, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Abuja.

5. Secondary Schools: Educational institutions providing formal education to students typically between the ages of 11 to 18 years, following primary education and preceding tertiary education. In Nigeria, secondary education often covers Junior Secondary School (JSS) and Senior Secondary School (SSS) levels.

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