EFFECT OF RISING COST OF EDUCATION ON ADMINISTRATION OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN MAKURDI EDUCATION ZONE OF BENUE STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract
The study investigated the effect of the rising cost of education on the
administration of public secondary schools in the Makurdi Education Zone
of Benue State, Nigeria. The purpose of the study was to investigate the
effect of the rising cost of education on the administration of public
secondary schools. A descriptive survey research design was adopted for the
study. The population of the study comprised all the 1,772 teachers from 89
public secondary schools in Makurdi Education Zone. A sample of 354
teachers representing 20% of the total number of teachers’ population size
was randomly selected from 14 public secondary schools representing 14%
of the study. A simple random sampling technique was used to select the
sample. The instrument used for data collection was a questionnaire.
Cronbach Alpha was used to test the instrument and a reliability coefficient
of .81 was obtained. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive
statistics of mean and standard deviation to answer the two research
questions. A mean cut-off point of 2.50 was used for decision-making. The
two hypotheses were tested using percentages and a Chi-square (x2) test of
goodness of fit at a .05 level of significance. The findings of the study show
that the rising cost of education has a negative significant effect on capital
projects and enrolment in the administration of public secondary schools. It
was recommended among others that government should improve budgetary
allocation to education to finance capital projects whereas, donor agencies
and other philanthropists should support the government’s effort in donating
funds and capital projects to schools; and to encourage enrolment rate, there
should be subsidized fees, scholarship awards and freewill donations such as
school uniforms as well as writing materials to students. If this is done, it
may encourage students to attend school, and the enrolment rate will
increase for effective school administration.
Keywords: Rising cost of education, capital project, enrolment, administration
Introduction
In recent times administration of secondary schools has become a burning issue in the minds of educational administrators. This may be partly because the administration of secondary schools seems to have been faced with numerous problems. According to Bua and Ijov (2015), one of the problems that have been hindering the effective administration ofeducation in Nigeria today is the rising cost of education. The cost of education seems to be rising on daily basis considering the dwindling budgetary allocation to education and economic hardship occasioned by the recent Corona Virus (COVID-19). In this light, the government’s capacity to fund education, therefore, seems not to be adequate or change especially in public schools. The private schools that try to complement this gap charge highcosts, and many households also seem to find it difficult to bear the cost of education for their wards since the whole economy of the country seems to be affected.