FINANCING AND CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT AS GOVERNMENT INTERVENTIONS IN THE MANAGEMENT OF PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS FOR QUALITY EDUCATION SERVICE DELIVERY IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study investigated financing and curriculum development as government interventions in the management of private secondary schools for quality education service delivery in Rivers State. Two research questions as well as two corresponding hypotheses guided the study. The design adopted for the study was descriptive survey. The population of the study comprised all the 692 educational stakeholders which consisted of 453 government approved private secondary school proprietors in Rivers State as well as 239 inspectors of the Ministry of Education. A sample of 362 education stakeholders comprising 150 inspectors of the ministry of education as well as 212 proprietors of private secondary schools in Rivers State was drawn for the study using proportionate stratified random sampling technique. A 40-item instrument titled Government Interventions in Private Secondary Schools Management for Education Service Delivery Scale was used for data collection. The scale by three experts in Measurement and Evaluation. The reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach alpha and each of the cluster of the instrument produced reliability coefficients of 0.79 and 0.82 respectively. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation while the hypotheses were tested using z-test at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study showed a high extent of government intervention in the area of curriculum development in the management of private secondary schools in Rivers State, while in the area of financing the government intervention is to a low extent. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that there is need for the government to assist private secondary schools with finance so as to increase their share in the delivery of quality education in Rivers State.