ADMINISTRATORS’ FUND ACQUISITION STRATEGIES FOR QUALITY ASSURANCE IN PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN ANAMBRA STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study examined administrators’ fund acquisition strategies for quality assurance in public and private secondary schools in Anambra State. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population for the study constituted 775 secondary school administrators, 258 from state public school and 517 from private schools in the six education zones of Anambra State. Sample for this study constituted 181 public school principals and 362 private school principals selected through the proportionate stratified sampling technique.A questionnaire titled “Administrators’ Fund Acquisition Strategies for Quality Assurance Questionnaire (AFASQAQ)†was used for data collection. The questionnaire was validated by three experts and its reliability established through a single administration on a sample of 25 principals in Enugu State; and data gathered were analyzed using Cronbach Alpha method. This yielded an overall internal consistency value of 0.73. Method of data collection involved using a direct, hand-delivery and face-to-face personal contact with the principals. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions while the hypotheses were tested at an alpha (α) level of 0.05 using t-test statistics. Findings include among others that; the private secondary schools employed more fund acquisitions strategies in the areas of their social events strategies, educational services strategies, commercial ventures strategies than administrators of the public secondary schools for enhancement of quality assurance. The findings also indicated that there were significant differences in mean ratings of administrators of public and private secondary schools on the social events, educational services and commercial ventures fund acquisition strategies they employed for quality assurance in Anambra State. Based on the findings, it was recommended that: social events strategies especially the use of raffle tickets draws, students’ prize giving day and sporting activities like the inter-house sports employed by the private secondary school administrators should be effectively utilized by the public secondary school administrators to expand their means of fund acquisition for their quality assurance.