School Proliferation: Challenge of Curriculum Implementation in Nigeria

Abstract

Abstract The proliferation of private schools in Nigeria's secondary education system is one of the challenges facing effective teaching and learning of effective curriculum over the years. The quick growth of the number of private schools, much of it uncoordinated, has implications for the fidelity to the approved curriculum in the classroom. The research investigated school proliferation as a problem to implementation of curriculum in secondary schools in Ondo state. Review of related literature was done both conceptual and empirical. Descriptive Survey Research Design was used for the study. The population was made up of the secondary school teachers and stakeholders in Ondo State. One hundred and twenty (120) respondents were selected using purposive and simple random sampling procedure in Ondo State secondary schools. Data was collected from the respondents by using a well-structured questionnaire. Cronbach alpha reliability method was used to determine the instrument's reliability. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics which was used to answer the research questions. Simple linear regression analysis was used to test the formulated hypothesis. The results showed that school proliferation is a significant issue in the study area (grand mean = 3.80), the lack of teacher, inadequate instructional materials and weak supervision significantly affect the implementation of curriculum (grand mean = 3.83) and the rapid increase on the number of private schools significantly affect the delivery of curriculum (grand mean = 3.84). Regulatory and support measures were strongly recommended as a means of addressing these challenges (grand mean = 3.90). Furthermore, the significant positive effect of the rapid growth of private schools was found on curriculum implementation (R = .439, R² = .193, F(1, 118) = 28.24, p = .000), so that the null hypothesis was rejected. It was thus concluded that the rapid growth of school has posed a great challenge to the implementation of the curriculum in Ondo State. Based on the results, it is recommended that: mandatory school registration and inspection should be implemented by the government, school curriculum compliance should be intensified, schools that do not comply with the curriculum be sanctioned, the government should train teachers for all schools, in order to ensure that all teachers are available, the government should encourage the siting of schools in an equitable manner and the government should standardize academic calendars and curriculum benchmarks for all schools.