WHY DO WE NEED FUND IN THE ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATION IN NIGERIA, ESPECIALLY AT THE BASIC LEVEL OF EDUCATION?

1.1.1 Introduction

The level of success recorded by the educational sector has been closely linked with the availability of resources. Among the resources needed for the effective administration of the educational sector, funding has been identified as an indispensable instrument. This is because funding serves as the life-wire for the management and administration of most sectors of the economy including the educational sector. It is based on this fact that UNESCO recommended that 26% of the annual budget of any nation should be set aside for the administration and management of the educational sector (Odia & Omofonmwan, 2007). This is because such funding strategy will assist in providing the basic resources needed for teaching and learning both in terms of quality and quantity. Over time, effort has been made by government of various countries to ensure improvement in the level of funding made available for the administration of the basic level of education. This is also the case in Nigeria where the government has relatively improved in the level of fund set aside for the development of the educational sector in the last few years (Voice of Nigeria, 2013). It is on this backdrop that the study set out to examine the need for fund in the administration and management of education in Nigeria, especially at the basic level of education

1.1.2 Meaning of Funding:

 When funding is mentioned, the first thing that comes to mind is the availability of money for meeting the need for a given project or programme. It is a system of apportioning available capital belonging to an organization for meeting a need. Funding refers to a form of financial support that is given for the achievement of a project. According to the Online Business Dictionary (2013) funding is the provision of financial resources in order to meet a need, project or program. Money needed to run a project or programme in the school may be raised from within or outside the school. When funds are generated, they are usually disbursed based on the needs of the school. The process of making the acquired funds available to the units that require them either in the short or long run is referred to as funding.

1.1.3 Importance of funds towards effective administration and management of education in Nigeria, especially at the basic level of education:

The availability of funds plays a significant role in determining the provision of quality education at all levels. The quantity of funds made available during budgeting will go a long way in improving on the quality of education provided. Adequate funding will be of importance in the provision of quality of education in one or more of the following ways:

 Infrastructural Development: The availability of fund is very important in the provision of school infrastructures. More funding will help the school management in providing more facilities such as classrooms, laboratories, libraries and instructional materials. Available facilities will also be provided based on modern development while obsolete facilities will be discarded. This means that the higher the level of funding, the more the infrastructures that will be provided for teaching and learning. (Adeleye, 2012).

Staff Recruitment; For an effective administration and management to achieve educational goals and objectives, adequate fund need to be place for the recruitment of academic and non-academic staff. Thus, staff is responsible for planning, organizing, coordinating, controlling, manipulating and maintaining other forms of resources; its administrative and forecasting ability placed it ahead of other forms of resources. The availability of human resources is not only required in school administration, but their quality and quantity must be considered if effective and efficient administration is to be guaranteed. According to Likert (1969) all activities of any institution are initiated by the persons that make up that institution. Plant, offices, computer, automated equipment and all inputs that an institution uses are unproductive except for human effort and direction.

Recurrent and Capital Expenditure recurrent expenditure can simply be described as expenditure incurred on personnel in the organization, consumable supplies, repairs, and maintenance and refurbishing during the financial year. It is sometimes referred to as operating costs. Recurrent expenditure will normally take the largest share of the gross or total expenditure for a particular year. Capital expenditure includes expenditure on buildings, school sites, equipment and machinery minus the cost of their repair and maintenance. There is also what is called real resource costs. Hall, (2013), described real resource costs as “the units of physical inputs into the educational system such as the number of textbooks, library books, and teachers, areas of floor space and so on. They become monetary resources when they are expressed in terms of their monetary value. Factor costs are the prices paid for various resource factors under the separate headings of teachers, supplies, equipment and buildings.

Reduction in Education Cost on Parents: Adequate funding of education by various educational stakeholders is a very important step in reducing the burden of the cost of education on parents and students. Rich (2012) stated that until alternative funding sources are provided, students will continue to pay high education cost even if the cost is unreasonable. Exploring funding sources will therefore help to reduce the burden of funding secondary education among the various educational stakeholders. Additional funding from alternative sources will provide avenue for generating funds for the purchase of learning resources which will reduce the burden of the cost of education on the government, parents and students.

 Increases the Level of Patronage: When schools in Nigeria are properly funded to the minimum level specified by UNESCO at 26% of the annual budget, there will be an improvement in the standard of education provided and this will increase the level of patronage of Nigerian schools by both citizens and foreigners. This in a long run can help to improve on the image of Nigerian schools and increase the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Proper funding of education will restore the confidence of parents and the international community on the standard of secondary education provided in Nigeria.

Procurement of facilities and equipment; Teaching and learning is more effective with the aid of enough facilities and equipment such as; furniture, stationeries, books, instructional materials, laboratory equipment, computers, etc. Adequate funding is needed for the school management to procure all in order to achieve the set objectives.

Payment of salaries and other allowances of staff; According to Likert (1969) all activities of any institution are initiated by the persons that make up that institution. Plant, offices, computer, automated equipment and all inputs that an institution uses are unproductive except for human effort and direction. For these to be meaningful in school, the management has to be financially sound to be able to pay the salaries and allowances its staff.

Training & retraining of staff; Teachers at all level needs to be updated (trained and retrained) with new skill(s) to be able to effectively and efficiently meet the educational goals and objectives. In this regard enough funds need to be set aside for the purpose of sponsoring teachers to undergo needed training which will improve their skills of teaching for the betterment of the nation.

Others reasons why we need fund in the administration and management of education are:

Maintenance & servicing of school physical facilities.

Setting up communication gadget for effective performance

Students trips (excursion) etc.

1.1.4 Sources of Funds for Effective and Efficient Administration and Managing Basic Education in Nigeria:

In every formal organization, funds serve as an important resource that is needed to manage the affairs of the organization. However, it remains one of the scarce resources that are in short supply among most organizations including schools. Based on this situation, schools like all other organizations usually develop alternative means of securing adequate funds to manage their various activities. These funds can be generated either within or outside the school from both educational and non-educational services. Some of the sources through which schools can generate more funds for the management of their various activities includes the following:

Government Funding: The government is one of the major sponsors of education in most countries of the world. Funding of public schools is one of the major functions of the government (Hall, 2013). This is done through the preparation of annual budget for meeting the needs of the various sectors of the economy including education. Similarly, supplementary budget is usually prepared by government to take care of financial inadequacies in the education sector. The various levels of government; local, state and federal are partakers in the funding of the education sector (Hall, 2013). The government therefore plays a significant role of funding education through annual budgetary allocation. Consideration should therefore be given to the educational sector through continuous increase in the allocation to education sector. This will help to increase the quantity of available funds for managing the school system.

 School Fees: School fees have been identified as one of the major sources of finance that is needed to off-set administrative cost (Singleton, 2013). There have been various requests from different education stakeholder in Nigeria for the removal of school fees among the cost of education. This is geared towards making education free just like in other countries of the world. However, the total removal of school fees will likely affect the quality of education in the country. This is because the payment of school fees at a minimal level will provide part of the needed funds to manage the activities of the school system for increased efficiency. This will help to increase the quality of education provided for the various beneficiaries.

Private Sector Contributions: The role of the private sector in providing financial support for the administration of secondary education in the country cannot be over emphasized. According to Jakarta (2010) the contribution of the private sector to national education is a resource that remains largely untapped. Private sectors in the country usually have social corporate responsibilities of contributing to the development of their host communities. This implies that the provision of financial support to secondary education is one of the areas through which private sectors can fulfill their corporate social responsibilities. Private business owners are expected to contribute financially to the growth of the educational sector from their wealth of financial resources. This also will serve as additional revenue outlet for secondary schools in the country.

 Sales of Student’s Handcraft and Art: One of the forms of assessment used for students in the school system is the development of handcraft and arts. This includes products such as pots, baskets, mats, tie, dye, drama, painting etc. The production of this hand crafts and arts in large quantity can help raise enough funds which can be used to off-set some of the expenditures incurred in the school system. Revenue from handcrafts is used in some schools for the provision of learning facilities. The school can also partner with some manufacturing and marketing organizations that can help in developing and marketing handcraft products produced by teachers and students.

Alumni: Alumni are associations formed by individuals who are products from a particular educational institution. It is similar to the old students association formed in some educational institutions. Financial support from alumni is another way of generating funds for the administration of secondary education in the country. Frequent meetings are usually organized by these individuals where funds can be raised for the administration of their various schools. The alumni of various schools give an opportunity for highly placed individuals in the society to contribute to the affairs of the school where they graduated from. Such association serves as a means for generating funds for the administration of the school.

 Sales of School Farm Products: Another method of generating funds among secondary schools is through the establishment and maintenance of school farm projects. Through the farm project, various cash and food products can be raised which when sold to the public can help to generate additional funds for meeting the other needs of the school. Farming activities on the school farm is sometimes performed by students and supervised by teachers as part of student’s continuous assessment. However, when the products are harvested, it helps to generate revenue for the school. The farm products raised can be either plant or animal production. When such agricultural products are cultivated either in commercial or subsistent quantities, the can be sold out to the public for additional revenue.

Parents Teachers Association (P.T.A.): The Parents Teachers Association (PTA) is another source of generating revenue for the administration of secondary school education. This association has been used to finance major projects in schools such as transportation, building classrooms, laboratories, libraries etc. Parents Teachers Association usually meets to address the need of the school of their children or wards. In some cases, funds are usually raised to manage the activities of the school system as part of parental support to the administration of their children’s school.

Others are: ETF, TET FUND, Foreign Aid, Endowment Funds e.t.c.

1.2.1 Discuss in details issues in financing in educational development for socioeconomic growth.

The educational sector should be paid lots of attention because it gives room for the country’s development. Unfortunately, the quality and standard of education in Nigeria is poor because it has not been paid adequate attention. Nigeria runs a federal system of government, so the Nigerian education system is overseen by the Ministry of Education.  The education system at the federal level is managed by the Ministry of Education; these include the management of federal universities and schools. State public schools and tertiary institutions are controlled by the ministry at the state level. (Abdullahi, Danjuma 2014).  

Before delving into explaining the problems of financing educational programmes in Nigeria, I want to first highlight the main issues which education faces. There are numerous problems that our educational sector is facing but we are going to focus in only but a few of them. (George S. Ibe‐Bassey, 1996) ” These problems include ones as follow;

1. Inadequate statistical data.
2. Political instability.
3. Lack of stable economy.
4. Over dependence on oil.
5. Population explosion.
6. Indiscipline and corrupt practices.
7. Methods of disbursing funds in our educational system.
8. Poor funding.
9. Poor personnel and manpower inadequacy.

However, it is noteworthy to predict that the problems of funding education in our country Nigeria go beyond the above mentioned issues. It covers a variety of items which includes the followings as mentioned by (Jibril, 1990).

1. Poor Funding: The first and possibly one of the greatest challenges facing education in Nigeria is inadequate funding by the federal, state and local governments. The global organization recommended the budgetary benchmark to enable nations adequately cater for rising education demands. But, in the proposal presented in the National Assembly, President Muhammadu Buhari allocated only but 7.04% of the #8.6 trillion in 2018 budget to the education sector. The total sum allocated to the sector was #605.8 billion, with #435.1 billion for recurrent expenditure, #61.73 billion for capital expenditure and #109.06 billion for the Universal Basic Education Commission. In view of the foregoing, it is evident that the money been allocated to Nigeria’s education sector on yearly basis is not enough for the smooth running of our educational affairs and there is no doubt that this issue of poor funding of education in Nigeria is one of the reasons the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) has embarked on an indefinite and comprehensive strike action over the inability of the federal government to release money owed to the sector over the years and to implement such new educational policies and projects as revitalization of tertiary institutions, payment of professors and lecturers, to mention but a few.
2. Poor Governance: According to Jibril (1990). Poor governance and mismanagement have crippled most sectors in the country not leaving behind the education sector. Governments’ attitudes toward crucial problems of education especially its quality, is lackadaisical. Governments at all levels are more concerned about issues that are not important as education and this is crippling the country. Nigeria is more than fifty (50) years old and as old as she is, we cannot boast of our education sector not because we do not get the best in our education, but our leaders has always made their priorities intangible things that do not have values as education does. This issue of bad governance, after poor funding, is another crucial problem of funding educational programmes in Nigeria and it would take only but honesty, discipline, faithfulness, etc. to resolve.
3. Corruption: Corruption is one of the major problems in the country and the education sector is not an exception. There are stories of lecturers collecting money from students in exchange for good grades, university administration demanding money from students to have their results compiled and submitted to the (required) National Youth Service Corps, admission seekers paying money to get admission into the university and so on. Not only these, those in higher ranks like the Vice-Chancellors, Professors and other high ranked university workers including Principals in secondary schools and head (master or mistress) in primary schools now divert school funds meant for salaries, maintenance and so on for personal use and consumption, not putting into consideration the implication it is going to cause for the schools’ general wellbeing.
4. Politicizations of Education: Talking about politicization in the sector, the desire to compete with others, governments at all levels, especially at the state level, attempt to run many institutions even when they do not have much capacities to such. This cause the general fall in the standard of existing ones and the available budgets cannot cater for all their needs. In addition, states governments give accreditation to private schools that they know are not well equipped for teaching, in a bid to generate more revenue for themselves.
5. Lack of Infrastructures: In past years, schools and other vocational institutions have collapsed due to abject neglect by the governments. Our tertiary institutions having to fall into dilapidation and products of such schools are not given adequate training to compete with the products of other schools in other countries. Many schools lack basic equipment for conducive learning, most especially for science practical classes, and those that claim to have are managing the old ones. Hence the students only learn the theoretical steps rather than carrying out the practical aspects. Also, the libraries in schools are lacking needed journals, books and magazines.
6. Indiscipline: This is manifested in examination malpractices, secret cult menace and so on. The investigation reveals that some examination centers exist in this nation where parents are paying money for qualifying their wards to pass SSCE-WAEC, NECO, JAMB. Indiscipline is so enduring in the educational sector that we hear of cult killings almost every day in the media, students are no longer concerned in academic excellence. The issue of cultism in schools, has more especially, posed a great problem to the funding of educational programmes in Nigeria as cultists and student members of secrets cults damage and vandalise public properties owned and managed by the schools, thereby causing the schools to be unable to provide for the current needs. We hear of burning of school building, stealing of electric plant generators, and some other important and costly items owned by the schools. These in turn makes it difficult for the government to see to all the needs of the schools as they (the schools) will be demanding for funds to revitalise old things, replace items damaged by hooligans and cultists, etc. which the government may not be able to provide for them at once (Jibril, 1990).

• Poor parenting and Guidance: Parents are meant to provide the basic requirements needed to meet the challenges of life, but many parents do not even show enough care or support. All they want is for their wards to excel irrespective of the means. This lack of proper guidance to their wards lead to encouragement on their parts to engage in examination malpractices and even going as far as paying for “special centers”.

• Unstable Staff and Inadequate Manpower: Unstable condition of teaching has made most professionals search for alternatives, and because of the meager salaries they earn, some of them have other alternatives and they pay more attention to these alternatives. This, in no doubts, affects their efficiency and dedication to their teaching professions.

• Lack of Good Teachers’ Welfare: there is poor teachers welfare in the educational sector, teachers are poorly paid and lack basic welfare services. In addition to poor salaries, they are not usually been paid on time which is why we hear of strike every time. Once the teachers go on strike, students are forced to go home since nothing will be going on in school which often results in studying a course more years than it is supposed to be studied.

These and more are some of the problems facing our educational sector in Nigeria, and it has to be corrected before we lose the beauty of education.

Having talked about some of the problems and challenges facing the funding of educational programmes in Nigeria, I also deem it necessary to talk about some of the solutions to these issues in a bid to make our educational sector bloom again and glow in beauty.

1.2.2 Possible solution:

George S. Ibe‐Bassey, (1996). The above problems are a few out of the any problems facing the funding of the education sector in Nigeria. So, what can be done to solve the problems facing the education sector in Nigeria? Below are some of the recommended solutions.

1. Most problems are as a result of lack of funding, inadequate and improper budgetary allocation to education. To solve this problem, the government should provide sufficient funds for acquiring quality training facilities, for renovating schools and also getting good infrastructure to ensure that there is a conducive environment for teaching and learning.
2. Furthermore, the funds should be maintained and properly monitored to avoid mismanagement.
3. Governments at all levels need to be committed in delivering a competitive, high quality and standard education across the country.
4. Examination regulatory bodies need to work tirelessly to curb examination malpractice.
5. Teachers’ salaries need to be improved, this will motivate them to be dedication to their work and be more productive and efficient.
6. Measure need to be taken to ensure stability in the teaching profession. Qualified and professional teachers need to be employed.
7. Teachers and lecturers need to be given periodical training to ensure that what they are teaching the students are of good quality.
8. Teachers should be provided with quality and up to date materials. Also, quality teaching aids will help to improve the education sector.
9. Students should be admitted based on merit. Hence, penalties should be made for unlawful collection of money from students for a reason.

1.3 Conclusion:

In most countries basic education is nowadays perceived not only as a right, but also as a duty – governments are typically expected to ensure access to basic education, while citizens are often required by law to attain education up to a certain basic level. This was not always the case: the advancement of these ideas began in the mid-19th century, when most of today’s industrialized countries started expanding primary education, mainly through public finances and government intervention. Data from this early period shows that government funds to finance the expansion of education came from a number of different sources, but specifically taxes at the local level played a crucial role. The historical role of local funding for public schools is important to help us understand changes – or persistence– in regional inequalities.

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