FUNDING ISSUES IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAMMES IN NIGERIA

Abstract

In Nigeria, almost every year, 2% of the Consolidated Revenue Fund of the Universal Basic 
Education fund is given to pre-primary education and this money is often not easily accessible. The 
2% dispensed to Early Childhood Education by the UBE Consolidated Revenue Fund (CRF) is 
grossly inadequate for fundamental instruction conveyance in compliance with global standards. This 
accounts for the paucity of public pre-primary (nursery) schools across the federation. This study 
examined the funding issues associated with early childhood education in Nigeria. The study 
adopted a survey research design to observe and describe the funding situation of early childhood 
education programme in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised the infinite 
population of early childhood education programmes in Ebonyi State. The sample size of 347 teachers 
randomly chosen from nursery schools across the state provided the needed data for the study. The 
findings of this study revealed that both public and private ECCE programmes are grossly 
underfunded as perceived by major stakeholders from both public and private ECCE schools. The 
study recommended among others the establishment of the Ministry of Early Childhood Education at 
the federal level to enhance direct funding of ECE programs in the country.