Historical Development of Private Secondary Schools in Kwara State, Nigeria From 1999 To 2019

Abstract

Despite the expansion of public secondary schools in Kwara State from 1999 to 2019, the establishment of private secondary schools continued to increase in the state because of inadequate educational facilities in most public secondary schools, poor teachers’ remuneration and working conditions which led to poor teachers’ job performance in public schools. Thus, this study examined the historical development of private secondary schools in Kwara State from 1999 to 2019. The population of this study comprised all private secondary schools in Kwara State. The target population was 188 private secondary schools registered under the Kwara State Ministry of Education and Human Capital Development. The Historical research method was used in this study. Purposive sampling technique was used to select a sample of 767 respondents comprising Proprietors, Principals, experienced teachers, Parent-Teacher Association, Officials of the Ministry of education and its agencies. The instruments used for data collection were questionnaire, proforma and structured interview. Validity of the instruments and authenticity of historical sources were determined by two lecturers in the Department of Arts Education, two experts in the field of Test and Measurement, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin, Nigeria based on historical methods of internal and external criticisms. Thematic analysis was used to answer the research questions 1 and 4 while the percentage was used to answer the research questions 2 and 3 respectively. The findings revealed that the number of private secondary schools in Kwara State gradually increased between 1999/2000 and 2018/2019 academic sessions except in 2002/2003 where it remained the same as it was in 2001/2002, and sharply increased in 2009/2010 academic session because some parents had lost confidence in enrolling their children in public secondary schools due to the inadequate of educational facilities in public schools. This made them patronise private schools and thereby increased the number of private secondary schools in the state. Based on the findings, it was concluded that from 1999 to 2019 the number of private secondary schools had significantly increased. Also, it was recommended that all levels of government should give grants to private secondary schools to enable them provide adequate educational facilities, employ qualified teachers, and adequately and timely pay their salaries.