Education has many definitions depending
on the time element, the place and also the circumstances. This implies that education has
no unitary definition, it is a continuous process and not static. It includes
all the activities by which a child learns the teaching, customs and traditions
of the society in which he lives. In the
process of education, the behaviour of a young child is shaped in accordance with the aims and
goals of his society, Unachukwu (1989). Other scholars have equally tried the
definition of education and they induce Eze (2002:94) who defined education as:
“The imparting and acquisition of knowledge designed
to develop a broad range of abilities, knowledge and skills of general
application.
Based
on the above definitions of education, it could be stated there that education
in the strict sense is employed to designate the consciously planned and
systematically applied formal education or training carried on through the
various social agencies of education, especially the school.
Education
is veritable tool that all developing and developed nations of the world can
use skillfully to accomplish whatever national objectives they wish. Where the
bedrock of the nations educational system is concerned care should be taken
that the right foundation is laid.
Funding
is the most basic need of the Nigerian educational sector. Government is
therefore pursuing innovation strategies for the generation of funds to
education. Traditionally
sources of funding of education in Nigerian have been, school fees and levies
paid by parents and guardians and parents in-aid from the various
government. These sources of funding of
education existed from the colonial era up to about independence in Igbo and
beyond. Adesua
(1981) reports of Christian’s missionaries, merchant and emigrant businessmen
living in Lagos being the first financiers of education in Nigeria. Donations
and church offering by members formed a sizeable percentage of the money used in the financing the
schools founded by the missionary bodies.
The
education ordinance of 1882 provided for the total maintenance and finance of
schools established by the colonial governments, while mission and private
school were to be assisted through a system of grant –in-aid. Adesua (1984) reports that formal education
in Nigeria has been mainly financed by the public sector that is the
governments. The
current funding pattern of public primary schools is that the federal
government contributes the lion’s share, with the State and Local Government as
contributors. Parents and parent-bodies
e.g. “Parent Teachers Association’ (PTA)
equally contributes to education through various levies and fees on students.
Additional
sources of funding primary schools have been: foundations established by the
rich; generous individuals; religious groups; and other groups. Social and
youth clubs have been assisting in the task of funding education, e.g. through
donating some block of classroom for dormitory buildings, and awarding
scholarships to indigent pupils. In
the light of the high cost of education in spite of the listed sources of
funding, there is still need to go searching for viable alternate sources of
funding. And some of the alternative
sources includes:
Petroleum Trust
Fund (PTF):
This is one of the sources, which the federal government created out of the
additional revenue, which accrued from the increased in the prices of petroleum
products in the country in 1994. It
finances the development of social services and already the educational sector
has been assured of a significant intervention which will cover, especially,
the rehabilitation of school infrastructure at all levels, and the provision of
books and other instructional materials.
Secondly,
the education Tax Fund (E.T.F) is another sources of funding education in
Nigeria.
As
recording in education tax fund at a glance, volume (3.1)
The
education tax fund is a trust fund established under the education tax Act
No 7
of 1993 and amended by Act No
40 of 1998
with the objectives of using funding with project management to improve the quality of education in Nigeria.
Basically,
the pre-supposed objective of education tax fund include:
i.
Providing
fund for educational facilities and infrastructure development
ii.
Promoting
creative and innovative approaches to educational learning and services.
iii.
Stimulate, support and enhance improvement
activities in educational foundation areas like teacher education, teaching
practice, library development etc. and
iv.
Champion
new literacy–enhancing programmes as scientific, information and technological
literacy (E.T.T at a Glance, Volume 3:3)
for E.T.T to achieve the pre-determine
goals,
“Acts
No 7 of 1993 as amended imposes a 2
percent education Tax on the assessable profit of all registered companies in Nigeria”
The
Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) is empowered by act to assess and
collects education Tax
The
fund administers the tax imposed by the acts,
and disburses the amount to
educational institutions at federal,
state and local government levels
hence the roles of ETF in
the physical development of Nigeria
primary education sector can not
be over –emphasized.
Again,
Universal Basic Education (UBE) launched in September, 1999, has really
contributed a lot in the funding of education in Nigeria. In fact, the
following objectives of (UBE) reflects
the roles of the body towards the development of educational sector.
-
Mobilize
the citizen to promote education at all levels
-
Give every
Nigerian child of school age a free and universal education.
-
Reduce incidents
of dropouts from the formal school system.
-
Provide vocation
for school dropouts through appropriate moral and civic values that are
required for learning and efficiency (http: / www. Nigeria first org. / printer
44 of shtm1/ from the above listed and discussed innovating measures adopted
for the development of education sector, it could be well understood that the
strategies could yield fruitful result if wisely mobilized and utilized).
PROBLEMS
The Nigeria society, particularly
Ebyia Development Centre of Ebonyi State seems dissatisfied with the
performance of the primary schools system. Most of the primary schools in this
area have dilapidated school buildings, no desk for pupils and tables for
teachers; and equally lacks equipped libraries for effective teaching and
learning.
The critics that this situation
affects the standards of education, which seem to be on the downward trend. The
government by a way of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of Nigeria
school system through proper funding has established the education tax fund
scheme.
Therefore, it is on the basis of the
above that the research sets out to find out:
1. Whether the education Tax fund (ETF) has any roles to
play in the physical development of primary school system in Ebyia Development
Centre?
2. If E.T.F projects have any effect on pupils of the
selected primary schools in Ebyia Development Center
3. The nature of project/sited in the selected primary
schools Ebyia Development Centre.
4. The problems militating against the achievements of
the E.T.F laudable objectives and
5. If the Education Tax Fund has achieved its objectives
in the areas of providing funds for educational facilities and infrastructure
development.
PURPOSE
The main purpose of this study is:
1. To high light and x-ray the various role of E.T.F in
the physical development of some selected primary school in Ebyia Development
Centre, hence according to E.T.F news (2001), the question; “what has your
institution benefited from E.T.F will always deserve an answer.
2. To explore the problems militating against the
achievement of the objectives of E.T.F.
3. To identity the extent to which E.T.F projects have affected
pupils of the selected primary schools.
4. And finally, to suggest ways through which these
problems can be properly addressed or ameliorated for the find to achieve its
targeted objectives.
SIGNIFICANCE
Really, the importance of education
cannot be over emphasized. And that is why the establishment of Education Tax
fund to aid the funding of education is a welcome development. In fact, it is a
step in the right direction. Some of the primary schools in Ebyia Development
Centre has suffered a lot because of inadequate facilities lack of qualified
teachers etc in the schools.
Truly, pupils studying under the
mango tree is a pitiable state of the schools and does not encourage
qualitative education. It is expected that with the establishment of E.T.F, the
primary schools in Nigeria with a particular reference to those Ebyia
Development Centre would be given a face-left hence the need for the change of
their poor state.
The study will make known to the
implements of ETF intervention project (s) their shortcomings for corrective
purposes. It will equally serve as a reference point for the implements of the
project (s) and future researchers hence we compare the past with the present,
in order to predict the future.
Therefore, the study is significant
because it aims at making explicit explanation on the fund-E.T.F; thereby
creating more awareness both for the diets and ill-informed public (masses).
The study is also important because
it will help educational planners and the society to discover problems of
pupils relation to poor facilities in Nigeria primary school system.
If attempts to identify the effect
of the funds projects on the pupils of the selected primary school in Ebyia
Development Centre.
It also significant because it attempts
to make necessary recommendations for the improvement of the pupils’ academic
performances in primary schools system in Ebyia Development Centre.
Indeed, the above reason must have
justified the relevance of this study hence its significance cannot be over
emphasized.
SCOPES AND DELIMITATION
For intensive and effective study,
the work will be limited to the role of Education Tax Fund (ETF) in the
physical development of Nigerian primary education with a particular reference
to some selected primary schools in Ebyia Development Centre.
The researcher’s inability to extend
beyond this bound is due to time and financial constraints. The study of this
nature supposed to be endowed with the review of much related literature but
being a newly established fund, much literature on the body is not yet
established. Although available ones were properly reviewed.
As a researcher, I would have
visited all the primary school in Ebyia Development Centre, where I used as my
case study but due to time and financial constraints as mentioned above, I
could not do so but in order to make the work authentic and empirical, I still
visited some selected primary schools in the Local Government Area.
Based on these facts, I accept that the work may not
be 100% perfect, the authority of the work not with standing.
However, the future researchers may extend beyond this
bound.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
In order to carry out result-oriented investigation the following among other question will be addressed.
1. Does the Education Tax Fund have any role to play in
the physical development of primary school system in Ebyia Development Centre?
2. Does the ETF projects has any effort on the pupils of
the selected primary school in Ebyia Development Centre?
3. Who decides on the nature of project (s) to be
implemented and how?
4. To what extent has ETF achieved its objectives of
improving educational facilities and infrastructure developments in primary
schools selected in Ebyia Local Government Araa.
5. What are the major constraints that militate the
achievement of ETF objectives?