CAPACITY BUILDING NEEDS OF PRINCIPALS FOR MANAGEMENT OF FEDERAL UNITY SCHOOLS IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

Mismanagement of school funds, dilapidated school facilities as well as lateness and absenteeism among personnel in Federal unity schools in South, East, Nigeria indicated unsatisfactory state of affairs which demands immediate response through determination of capacity building needs of principals. To this effect, the study examined thecapacity building needs of principals for management of federal unity schools in South East, Nigeria. Three research questions guided the study. The research design employed for the study was descriptive survey. The population of the study comprised 12 principals in the federal unity schools in South-East, Nigeria and all were used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a researchers-developed questionnaire titled Capacity Building Needs of Principals Questionnaire (CBNPQ). Data collected were analyzed using arithmetic mean and standard deviation. The results of the study revealed among others that the capacity buildingneeds of principals for facilities management in federal unity schools in South-east, Nigeria included; keeping accurate record of school facilities, regular inspection of available school plant, planning for procurement of school plant, renovation of school buildings, regular repair of school furniture and servicing of school machines to keep them in functioning states. On the basis of these findings, the researchers recommended among others that Government should increase reasonably the budgetary allocation for regular training of principals to enable them keep abreast with the knowledge of personnel management in school.