ASSESSMENT OF EXTENT OF PRINCIPALS’ COMPLIANCE WITH FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STUDENTS’ SUPPORT SERVICES FOR EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT OF UNITY SCHOOLS IN SOUTH-EAST, NIGERIA

Abstract

This study assessed the extent of principals' compliance with Federal Government students' support services for the effective management of unity schools in South-East, Nigeria. Two research questions guided the study, and two null hypotheses were tested at the 0.05 level of significance. A descriptive survey research design was adopted. The population comprised 1,877 respondents, including 12 principals and 1,865 teachers from the 12 Federal Unity Schools in South-East Nigeria. A sample of 758 respondents, comprising 12 principals and 746 teachers, was selected using a multistage sampling procedure. Data were collected using a researcher-developed instrument titled Principals' Compliance with Federal Ministry of Education Students' Support Services for Effective Management Questionnaire (PCFMESSSEMQ). The instrument was validated by three experts from the Faculty of Education, . Cronbach Alpha was used to determine internal consistency, yielding reliability coefficients of 0.79 and 0.81 for Clusters I and II, respectively, with an overall coefficient of 0.80. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions, while t-test was used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that principals complied with Federal Government students' safety services to a high extent but complied with students' welfare services to a low extent. The study concluded that strengthening students' welfare services would improve the effective management of unity schools. It recommended that inspectors from the Federal Ministry of Education conduct regular monitoring visits to schools and that principals collaborate with teachers to periodically monitor school welfare committees to promote students' well-being.