PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIP IN FUNDING PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOLS FOR EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN ENUGU STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Country’s development is based on education, which is the fulcrum for socio-economic development. 
Education helps in technological transformation of any nation. This study examined the extent to 
which funding through public-private partnership collaboration in education contributes educational 
development in primary and secondary school in Enugu Sate, Nigeria. Poor funding has been noted as 
a critical factor that hinders educational development. It affects the learning environment, 
infrastructure, supervision and other elements that could facilitate learning. Available data indicates 
that between 2011 and 2015, percentage allocation to the education sector in Enugu State averaged 
about 19% of annual budgets of state government which is far below 26% recommendation of 
UNESCO. The study used cross sectional research design and one research question to examine the 
primary and secondary schools owned by the government, and the ones in joint ownership in terms of 
funding and accountability since accountability is an aspect of educational development using 561 
samples including principals, head teachers and other education stake holders, using random sampling 
technique in Enugu education zone. Questionnaire was used to collect data; Cronbach Alpha was used 
to test for reliability, ANOVA (F-statistic) was used to determine if there existed significant variance 
in the respondents’ responses based on their school category. Hypothesis was analyzed using t-test. 
The result revealed that respondents from schools under partnership had higher mean responses in 
most of the items than respondents from schools not under partnership ( = 3.98). PPP provision of 
fund help in training, teaching, workshops, seminars and conferences when well utilized ( = 4.27) 
and provision of fund can lead to better monitoring of attendance if put in place ( = 3.87) among 
others. The differences in the mean responses are significant at < 0.05.The study concluded that PPP 
provision of fund can be an option for improving quality of primary and secondary schools , 
accountability of fund can lead to increased enrolment, transparency in the management of schools. 
The study recommended that Private sector participation in funding education should be encouraged 
for increased funding and better management of schools.