CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Record is a written account of something that is kept so that it can be looked at and used in future, because to the usefulness of school records, they can/should be easily made accessible but at the same time kept safely where they cannot be easily destroyed.
School records according to Bosah (1997) are documented statements of facts about persons, facilities, proposals and activities in and about the school. Onwurah (2004) observed that everything on the school site including classrooms, the buildings, furniture and equipments should be properly itemized and documented in the inventory to facilitate identification and inspection. They are information materials about the school property, people in the school and what goes on in the school. In the school, there are many educational records such as records for new students, recruitment of teachers, timetable, and organizations, among others. All these are school activities, which need to be recorded and stored for retrieval when they are needed.
School is a formal organization with a high degree of permanency. Staff come and go but the school endures (Eresimadu & Nduka, 1987). Consequently, records of schools as institutions cannot be left to the memories of people. Even when existing schools are closed, the documents of the school are transferred to the Ministry of Education for safekeeping and later use.
Brightman and Dimsdale (1986) see record management as a device designed to store and retrieve records as effectively as possible. Record management according to Jeffey and Richard (1986) is the activity of converting raw facts and data into information for office use. There are lots of definitions of records management, but for the purpose of this research study, record management can be defined as the effective coordination of people, equipment and procedures to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate and distribute needed, timely and accurate data for decision making (planning). It also involves the management and coordination of the total communication process in educational organization.
Record management has been looked into as the key for effective running of any school. Education administrators at different levels of the organization, who have the major functions of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and controlling, depend basically on the type of information/records supplied to them. To manage school records is to manage the future of the school and to manage the future of the school is to manage information. Hence, the success of any educational system depends on its ability to acquire accurate data (information or record) at the right time, process, and store and retrieve the information for decision-making.
Adequate record management is one of the important roles of the school administrators. In every government-owned school or any voluntary agency school that is in receipt of grant-in-aid, education law demands that essential school records must be kept. (Idoko, 2005). Robinson (1980) pointed out the important too, it says many people forget things easily and find it difficult to remember events in their lives, and therefore the keeping of records help to solve some of the problems that could arise from forgetting things. When records are properly kept, they help to reconstruct the history of the school, provide essential data for curriculum, planning and evaluation.
The success of the school curriculum, that is, how far the stated objectives of each discipline in the school curriculum have been achieved, is often determined from the data extracted from various academic records of the school and also school inspectors or supervisors as they are called now require the majority of records in schools in the discharge of their functions. From the available records, experienced supervisors are able to follow the trend of educational development within a school. Such records also form the basis on which they offer advice to schools.
Employers of labour may also require some information concerning the authenticity of certificate(s) presented at an interview by a job seeker, a testimonial of his character while at school, transcripts of academic record, students result sheet are required from schools or for other purposes.
A record also helps to maintain continuity in the general educational process of the school programmes. When a new principal resumes duty in a school, the previous records kept, guides him in his administrative duties and this may inform his take-off plans. It will enable the principal and the teachers to understand the background nature; past and present problems, activities and progress of each child and then they will be in position to help students. The proper keeping of school records furnishes parents with data on the activities, problems and achievements of their children and pattern of their progress.
Bosah (1997) asserted that one of the most serious setbacks to educational developments in Nigeria is non-availability of data or lack of authenticity where available. There are numbers of incomplete records/information in Awka Zone and this has caused problems in secondary school system. These problems are created by attitudes of records keepers and lack of co-operation among school personnel. There is also lack of record managing facilities, space, security, transport facilities, among others.
It was noted that difficulties are encountered in obtaining such basic data, in particular: statistics and other materials do not reach the State Ministry of Education at the time required because often it is inaccurate. There is inconsistency in the school records management in educational system by the secondary school management; the principal, staff and students. However, the person whose duty it is to ensure that proper records are kept is the principal.
In Nigeria, the educational law demands that records should be kept in schools. These records are divided into statutory and non-statutory. Statutory records are those prescribed by the education law and they include admission register, progress and withdrawal, logbook, school timetable, weekly diary work, time book, duty roster, staff record book, fees register, among others. Non-statutory records are kept for management convenience and they include records of club activities and hobby groups, games and sporting activities, record of physical development, inventory and stock book, school budget, record of pupils’ personal hygiene, among others. The non-statutory records are considered useful and kept by school for internal consumption (Idoko, 2005). They provide useful sources of information, not only for members of the school community: students, teachers, bursar, matron, storekeepers, principal; but also for people out side it.
It is a necessity for an accurate account of what happens to individuals and groups within the school to be documented but there are numbers of incomplete record/information in Awka educational zone having gone through some teachers’ register, lesson plan and log books. There is an observation made by the Chief Supervising Principals and Inspectors that secondary school principals and teachers are not responsible to the duties delegated to them (SEC, Awka, 2006). However, the responsibility and the corresponding accountability for school records lie squarely on the shoulders of the chief executives of the school – the school heads. For not recording information of the school, activities have caused the teachers, non-tutorial and head teacher not to plan and prepare their work effectively in the secondary school system (Idoko, 2005).
Appropriate records here help the school personnel to understand the school complex; therefore, it is mandatory that school principals and teachers became familiar with the various types of records in the school system, the procedure for keeping each record, as well as its usefulness. Unfortunately, reports of Inspectors of Education and Chief Supervisory Principals in most education zones in the state indicate that there are weaknesses and inefficiencies in the record management of secondary school principals, teachers and school staff in Awka Education Zone.
Incomplete records/information and figures make it difficult for the school and educational planners to plan education properly. Given the significance of proper record management, there is the need to investigate how to improve record management.
Statement of the Problem
In this increasingly complex, dynamic and documentary world, some schools have no regard for the manner in which data are collected, stored, maintained, managed and the need for their retrieval. Much importance is not attached to future plan by means of adequate records management.
Reports of inspectors of education and Chief Supervising Principals in most local government areas in Awka Education Zone of Anambra state indicate that there are weaknesses and inefficiencies in the record management of secondary school principals. For instance, the Chief Supervising Principal of the Awka Education Zone of Anambra State during an interview on 19th August 2004, (SEC, Awka), indicted school principals over what he called lapses in the keeping of records in secondary schools.
Some of these records are of historical value. Historically, it indicates why certain decisions or policies were adopted in the past. They are viewed as providing valuable future administrative guidance. Inability of recording accurate up-to-date data relating to curriculum also posed a lot of problems, like not providing essential data for planning and evaluation (Uwazurike 1991). This could greatly affect the ultimate goal of the education system. When information is incomplete and not up-to-date, better results or planning cannot be achieved.
