IMPACT OF INSECURITY ON THE MANAGEMENT OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NORTH-WEST GEOGRAPHICAL ZONE, NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

The study investigated the impact of insecurity on the management of public secondary schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria. It was conducted with the objectives to: determine the impact of insecurity on the management of instructional work in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria; find out the impact of insecurity on the management of school and community relationship in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria; assess the impact of insecurity on the management of school climate in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria; ascertain the impact of insecurity on the management of school facilities in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria; and find out the impact of insecurity on the management of school records in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria. These objectives were transcribed into five research questions and hypotheses respectively. The study employed the use of descriptive survey research design. The target population of the study was made up of1440 Ministry of Education Officials, 3078 principals and 50,768 teachers from North-West Zone, Nigeria. A sample size of 10 MOE Officials, 21 principals and 351 teachers, totalling 382 respondents were used in the study. The study sample size was drawn using random sampling technique. The instrument titled “insecurity and management of secondary school questionnaire (IMSSQ)” was used for data collection in the study. The instrument was pilot tested and reliability coefficient of 0.83 was obtained. The data collected in study was analysed using descriptive statistics of frequency, mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions, while Kruskal-Wallis statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study showed that insecurity significantly affect the effective management of instructional work in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria; insecurity did not significantly impact on the management of school and community relationship in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria; insecurity has significant impact on the management of school climate in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria; insecurity significantly impacted on the management of school facilities in northwest geographical zone, Nigeria; insecurity significantly impacted on the management of school records in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria. The study recommended among others that Government should invest in security technologies such as provision of security gates, use of padlocks, installing CCTV camera with night vision outside and within the school buildings, alarms, lighting systems and metal detectors to physically enhance security or safety in schools.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     Background to the Study

One of the major issues that seem to bother students, parents and stakeholders in Nigeria today is the school insecurity. Insecurity is a social disorder that causes threat to human lives and organizational activities. It is synonymous with feelings of being unsafe, lack of freedom from dangerous attacks and lack of protection from physical harm. Teachers and students in the Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria have experienced threat to their lives which is as a result of absence of certain factors in the school that hitherto should have enhance peace and security so as to spur the school managers to effectively function in their duty posts. It therefore confirms that safe school environment encourages peaceful co-existence, positive school climate, cordial interactions among teachers and teachers, teachers and principals, students and students, and teachers and students for the overall benefit of the school while the unsafe schools experience otherwise.

In recent times, no place can be qualified to be regarded as school if it does not possess basic security measures that will guarantee safety of lives and properties. However, it is obvious that many teachers and students alike are concerned about the daring insecurity both to lives and the school properties. Worrisome enough is when the school managers does not have control over a situation but has to rely on the cooperation of others that cannot be guaranteed, the result may be frustration or insecurity. Insecurity is a threat to learning and the prevailing peace within and around the schools which often has ripple effects on effective teaching and learning and school management (Akintunde & Selzing-Musa, 2016).

The school insecurity relates more squarely to personal and physical insecurity. This is because the school is made up of both human and material resources which are integral components of the larger society. School personnel and students as well as the material resources in schools are liable for protection and safety in this era of pervasive terrorists attacks in which schools have become a subject of attack. The 21^st century is characterised with school attacks. School attacks are indicative of “targeted violence” aimed at educational institutions, by bandit or terrorist groups with a view to sending strong signals to state authorities (Mohammed, Alimba, Momodu & Ika, 2016).

For some time now, the Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria has been a hotbed of conflicts. Apart from the perennial conflict between the farmers and herdsmen, there are other notable security challenges, which include the activities of Boko Haram insurgency and banditry. However, in spite of government efforts, the security situation of schools in the Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria is deteriorating. Indeed, the lingering conflict between herders and farmers has been rated six times deadlier than the Boko Haram insurgency. Having originated in Zamfara state, school insecurity has since spread to five other nearby states, namely Kaduna, Katsina, Sokoto, Kebbi and Kano, the last of which is the abduction of schoolboys in Kankara community, Katsina State which bears the operational footprints of the Boko Haram group that has perfected the act through previous abductions of schoolgirls in Chibok and Dapchi in North-eastern Nigeria (Ojewale, 2021).

Insecurity has made the management of instructional work very difficult in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria. Thus the school insecurity has hindered the smooth running of time-table which enforced to carry out the instructional work, distribution of work among the members of staff, distribution of the prescribed curriculum, teaching and learning process and termly assessment of students. More so, the issue of school insecurity has negatively affected the school and community relationship. The school management and staff no longer feel safe in the community as they usually feel before that they have common interest concerning matters in the schools. The school as well as the community now have varied view contrary to the village heads on matters of security.

O’Malley (2010) posited that the effects of insecurity on education will be felt long after the funerals have taken place, through loss of teachers and intellectuals, flight of students and staff, fear of turning up to class, grief and psychological trauma among students and personnel, damage to buildings, materials and resources, and degradation of the education system through staffing recruitment difficulties and halted investment. The attacks on schools has resulted in the killing of students, teachers and destruction of school facilities (consist of buildings, playgrounds sport field, outdoor equipment, housing areas, classrooms laboratories, workshops and libraries) and closing down of schools for a very long period in the aforementioned states already marked as educationally backward.

Again, insecurity has render the school managers incapacitated as school records that are kept in schools for the historical as well as contemporary information are damaged. The Boko Haram and banditry attacks was not only related to Katsina State, the act was equally extended to Kaduna, Kano and Zamfara States, where schools were intentionally attacked to the point where the school record written and kept safely to provide information of what happened previously and what is happening now in the school to ensure its continuity are destroyed by various means such as bombing, burning, etcetera. The fear of school attack and the attention given to Kankara school abduction has reached the level of moral panic. This study therefore assessed the impact of insecurity on the management of public secondary schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

1.2     Statement of the Problem

School insecurity has become pervasive and highly devastating in Nigeria today. Often times, the armed groups threaten students and teachers and bomb and burn schools in the Northwest Geographical Zone. For instance, on 11 December 2021, about 523 boys were abducted from the Government Science Secondary School in Kankara Local Government Area (LGA) of Katsina State. In school attack, teachers as well as students are sometimes maimed, injured and killed, while school buildings and materials are destroyed by various means such as bombing, burning and so forth. This climate of insecurity has seriously retarded the management of schools, and in places even stopped, the crucial task of educating learners. Even when schools continue operating, students may not attend after a threat or an attack. Each incident affects the risk assessment that parents and students undertake nearly every day.

Regardless of the motivation for attacks on teachers, students, and schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, their effect is devastating and far-reaching: parents are afraid to send their children to school, teachers are afraid to teach, and schools are shut down. Education providers—the government and NGOs are forced to withdraw from insecure areas or are unable to expand to areas that desperately need them. In every respect, girls, who have much more limited access to education to begin with and who are typically the first to be pulled out of school because of insecurity, are disproportionately affected.

School insecurity affects the entire school and every student by influencing the management of instructional work, learner’s readiness and capacity for learning; hiring and retention of teachers, managers, and other school staff; the openness and accessibility of the school; student rights to privacy; the physical building and grounds, and the quality of learning environment more generally. As a result of school insecurity, education lacks its quality, the few available facilities were damaged, there is no harmony and good relationship between school and the community, and school records were burnt and damaged.

The problem is particularly acute outside of larger urban areas and off major roads, although early 2020 saw new attacks on previously secure schools. In Northwest Geographical Zone, where a new rash of abductions and targeting of students and schools has directly put schools in the line of fire, insecurity has cast an even more serious pall. Yet it is impossible to gauge the exact impact of insecurity on management of Public Secondary Schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria. Thus this research investigates the impact of insecurity on the management of public secondary schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

1.3     Research Questions

The following research questions were raised in the study:

1. What is the impact of insecurity on the management of instructional work in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria?
2. What impact does insecurity have on the management of school and community relationship in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria?
3. What impact does insecurity have on the management of school climate in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria?
4. What is the impact of insecurity on the management of school facilities in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria?
5. What impact does insecurity have on the management of school records in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria?

1.4     Research Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses will be tested at 0.05 level of significance:

H0₁:     There is no significant impact of insecurity on the management of instructional work in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

H0₂:     There is no significant impact of insecurity on the management of school and community relationship in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

H0₃:     There is no significant impact of insecurity on the management of school climate in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

H0₄:     There is no significant impact of insecurity on the management of school facilities in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

H0₅:     There is no significant impact of insecurity on the management of school records in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

1.5     Purposes of the Study

This study was set out to:

1. determine the impact of insecurity on the management of instructional work in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria;
2. find out the impact of insecurity on the management of school and community relationship in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria;
3. assess the impact of insecurity on the management of school climate in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria;
4. ascertain the impact of insecurity on the management of school facilities in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria; and
5. find out the impact of insecurity on the management of school records in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

1.6     Basic Assumptions

The study is premised on the assumptions that:

1. insecurity has hindered the management of instructional work in Northwest Geographical Zone.
2. insecurity has negatively impacted on the management of school and community relationship in Northwest Geographical Zone.
3. insecurity has impact on the management of school climate in Northwest Geographical Zone.
4. insecurity has impact on the management of school facilities in Northwest Geographical Zone.
5. insecurity has negatively impacted on the management of school records in Northwest Geographical Zone.

1.7     Significance of the Study

Findings of this study will be significance to the government, educational planners, principals, teachers, students, parents and the society at large. It will provide empirical information that will enable the government, educational planners, principals, teachers, students, parents and the society at large to gain better understanding of the state of insecurity in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria. Such information and knowledge will guide the government in their subsequent plans and projection for schools.

The government will from the study be better informed of the state of insecurity in schools as well as how it affect the management of instructional work. The information provided will guide them in taking proactive security measures in place in order to secure schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

From the findings of the study, educational planners will be properly guided when planning for the instructional work of secondary schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria. By identifying and highlighting some constraints faced by school heads in the management of school climate, and by providing suggested solutions to the problems, school heads will gain insight into some aspects of their school insecurity problems and be placed in a better position on how to solve them.

Principals will also benefit from the findings of the study on an important aspect of their school life they may have been neglecting. The understanding which the result of the study will provide may serve as an eye-opener on the relevance of school and community relationship in tackling the problem of insecurity in schools.

Teachers will immensely benefit from the findings of this study as it will bring about their improvement, which will consequently make the school environment more conducive for teaching, learning and habitation by students.

Students in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria in particular will immensely benefit from this study because the resultant awareness of the value and security of schools will build back the confidence of students in school security. This will also rekindle the waning interest of students in school attendance and learning. Students that have dropped out of school as a result of insecurity will be encouraged to returnback to school.

The world of academia, will benefit from the contributions which thefindings of this study will make to the corpus of knowledge as it will provide information and data base for discussion, citation and further academic researches.

The parents and the society at large will through this study get to understand the various impact of insecurity on the management of management of public secondary schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria and will be better placed to complement the effort of the government to provide security to schools within their locality.

1.8     Scope of the Study

This study investigates the impact of insecurity on the management of public secondary schools in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria. Hence, subject for the study are the principals, teachers and Ministry of Education Officials in the Northwest Zone, consisting of Jigawa, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kebbi, Sokoto, and Zamfara States. The study will be delimited to the impact of insecurity on the management of instructional work, school and community relationship, school climate, school facilities, and management of school records in Northwest Geographical Zone, Nigeria.

Tagged with: Insecurity, Management, Management of Public Schools, Management of Public Secondary Schools, Public Schools, Public Secondary Schools