ANALYSIS OF PRIVATE UNIT COST OF TEACHER EDUCATION IN PUBLIC TERTIARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA.

ABSTRACT

The study analyzed the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions in South-South Nigeria. It was aimed at finding out the actual private unit cost and also examined the various components of the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institution in South-South Nigeria. The variations if any in the private unit cost of tertiary education along the variables of type of institution, programme of study, gender of students, year of study, place of residence and ownership of institution were also studied. Eight research questions were raised and answered while three hypotheses were formulated and tested. A descriptive survey, employing the ex-post facto research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of fulltime teacher education students in the twenty public tertiary institutions in the South-South Nigeria. A sample of 2,030 respondents was selected from twelve public colleges of education and universities, through a purposive, stratified random sampling techniques. A teacher education private unit cost checklist was constructed, validated and administered to the sample. Data collected were analyzed with the use of frequency counts, pie chart, bar graphs, percentages, z-test for independent samples and multiple regression statistics. The findings revealed that the total private cost was N427,514,175.00, while the private unit cost was N210,598.12.

The private unit academic cost was N75,332.00 (35.77%), while the private non-academic unit cost was N135,266 (64.23%). Vocational and Technical Education had the highest private unit cost of N215,234.32 (31.30%), followed by sciences N211,147.66 (23.37%), Arts and Social Sciences N210,721.49 (23.21%) and Languages N206,593.12 (23.11%). Female students had a higher private unit cost of N227, 983.79 (51.50%) while that of their male counterpart was N194, 844.90 (48.50%). The private unit cost of students in rented apartments was the highest with N299, 896, followed by those in school hostels with N206, 650.64 and family apartments, N164, 289.74. Year one students had a private unit cost of N233, 074.50, year two, N195, 483.15, year three, N205, 460.65, while year four was N204, 074.82. State owned tertiary institutions’ students had a higher private unit cost of N239, 228.09 than Federal institutions students with N179, 014.60. The study also revealed that significant differences exist in the private unit cost of teacher education students based on the type and status of ownership of institutions. It was concluded that the private unit cost of teacher education in public tertiary institutions is high in favour of female students, university students, vocational and technical education students, year one students, state owned institutions and students in rented apartments. It was recommended among others that multinational companies and agencies such as Chevron, Mobil and Shell should offer education students scholarship as they do for other tertiary education programmes such as law, engineering, and accounting.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

The rejection of the natural resources-national wealth nexus by human capital exponents such as Schultz (1961), Harbison and Meyer (1964), among others led to the popularization of education and training of human resources as veritable means for achieving sustainable national development. This development brings to the fore the need for teacher education institutions that would produce teachers necessary for fast tracking the education process. In the teacher production process a lot of resources are needed.

These include fiscal, materials and personnel resources. Fiscal resources which address the cost of production is perhaps one of the most important factors in the provision and procurement of the education in any nation or state. When the cost of the education enterprise is undermined the system as well as the stakeholders could face grave consequences. This opinion therefore emphasizes the need for stakeholders to recognize the need to have a reasonable idea of the social and private cost burden of education in general and teacher education in particular to facilitate the attainment of national educational goals. Knowledge acquired through formal education is known to be a determining factor in the process of economic growth and development of nations. In the same manner teacher education is regarded as a major source of producing the required teachers needed for generating and disseminating the knowledge for national development. The cost of producing qualified teachers needed for national progress is worthy of immense considerations by stakeholders.