Strategies for Improving Staff Personnel for Effective Implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) in Junior Secondary Schools in Rivers State

Abstract

This study investigated the strategies for improving staff personnel for effective implementation of Universal Basic Education (UBE) program in junior secondary schools in Rivers State. Descriptive survey design was used for the study. The population comprised 8,687 junior secondary school teachers. A stratified random sampling technique was used to select 720 teachers out of which 120 were from urban schools while 600 were from rural schools. Two research questions and two hypotheses guided the study.  The instrument for data collection was questionnaire captioned Strategies for Improving Staff Personnel Questionnaire (SISPQ). The questionnaire was subjected to face and content validity by experts in the department of Educational Management, University of Port Harcourt. Data collected were analyzed using mean for research questions and z-test for the hypotheses at 0.05 alpha level. Findings revealed among others that in-service training programs in the areas of sandwich, workshops, and conferences were strategies for improving staff personnel for effective implementation of Universal Basic Education in junior secondary schools in Rivers State.  There is no significant difference between the mean ratings of urban and rural teachers on the in-service training programs provided in junior secondary schools in Rivers State.  Recommendations were made based on the findings that government should develop more interest in the area of distance learning and refresher courses for teachers and teachers should from time to time update their knowledge, on the pedagogical skills so as to improve their effectiveness and efficiency in service delivering.

Keywords: Strategies, Improving, Staff Personnel and Effective implementation.