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ANALYSIS OF PRIVATE UNIT COST OF TEACHER EDUCATION IN PUBLIC TERTIARY EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN SOUTH-SOUTH NIGERIA

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study 

The rejection of the natural resources-national wealth nexus by human capital exponents such as Schultz (1961), Harbison and Meyer (1964), among others led to the popularization of education and training of human resources as veritable means for achieving sustainable national development. This development brings to the fore the need for teacher education institutions that would produce teachers necessary for fast tracking the education process.

In the teacher production process a lot of resources are needed. These include fiscal, materials and personnel resources. Fiscal resources which address the cost of production is perhaps one of the most important factors in the provision and procurement of the education in any nation or state. When the cost of the education enterprise is undermined the system as well as the stakeholders could face grave consequences. This opinion therefore emphasizes the need for stakeholders to  recognize the need to have a reasonable idea of the social and private cost burden of education in general  and teacher education in particular to facilitate the attainment of national educational goals.

Knowledge acquired through formal education is known to be a determining factor in the process of economic growth and development of nations. In the same manner teacher education is regarded as a major source of producing the required teachers needed for generating and disseminating the knowledge for national development. The cost of producing qualified teachers needed for national progress is worthy of immense considerations by stakeholders.

Nwadiani, (2005), opined that teacher education is of pivotal importance in the educational enterprise when considered against the background of the invaluable roles teachers play in the transmission of knowledge, value and building of a complete man. In recognition of the role of teacher education in nation building, the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004:39) identified the objectives of teacher education as follows:

1.  To produce highly motivated, conscientious and efficient classroom teachers for all levels of our educational system.

2.  To encourage and further the spirit of enquiring and creativity in teacher.

3.  To help teachers to fit into the social life of the community and society at large and to enhance their commitment to national objective (goals).

4.  To provide teachers with the maintenance and professional background adequate for their assignment and make them adaptable for any changing situation.

5.  To enhance teacher commitment to the teaching profession.

The realization of these objectives is not without any reasonable cost implication on the part of all stakeholders. Education generally is an expensive enterprise when considered against the backdrop of high capital and recurrent cost it demands; hence the need for all stakeholders to share in the cost. For instance, according to the Nigerian Commission for Colleges of Education NCCE (2000) the total recurrent and capital allocation for Federal Colleges of Education between 1993 and 1998 were N5,789,240,000 and N2,687,326,185, respectively, while the federal allocations to federal universities in Nigeria between 1998 and 2009 were N577,723,105,913:00 and N74,0540,74,425:10 respectively (NUC, 2012). Thus, adequate financing is a necessary determinant for a successful implementation of teacher education as part of general education.

Presently, according to the Federal Ministry of Education (2013) there are 129 Universities, 57 Polytechnics and 65 Colleges of education providing teacher education programme. All these institutions require infrastructure, equipment, and personnel in the right proportion. The provision of these resources require a lot of funds. It must be noted that No state can effectively run teacher education programmes that compromise cost on the altar of charity. If relevance and competitiveness are considered in line with global trend, the cost implications of providing teacher education is imperative.  

According to Harbison (1973), Akangbou (1987), and Nwadiani (2002), and the realization that educated human resources are the active factors of production rather than natural resources that are passive has influenced nations to increase their investment interest in education in their national budgets. These renewed investment interests tend to affect the social cost of providing education to citizens. Without adequate funds, manpower resource which is vital for development cannot be harnessed in the right quantity or quality.

In Nigeria for instance, inspite of the other competing sectors of the economy fiscal allocations to education (teacher education), which by implication is the social cost of providing education at all levels of the educational system tends to be relatively high. The data in table I showed the level of fiscal allocation to education in Nigeria for some years. 

Data in Table 1 shows the annual allocation to education in Nigeria and the corresponding percentages from 2000 to 2013 respectively. Despite the increasing volume of allocations over the years, they are grossly inadequate when compared to the United Nations recommendation of 26% for developing countries like Nigeria. This inadequacy could be traceable to the unstable national economic status of the country.  It further showed that the highest Federal Fiscal allocation to education in Nigeria was 13% in 2008, while 2001 recorded the lowest allocation of 2.0%. These low figures have grave implications on teacher education. This is so because whatever is available will be thinly shared among the subsectors of the education industry. They include pre-primary, primary, secondary, tertiary including teacher education and the parastatals in education.    

Adebayo (2012), observed that the percentage allocation for teacher education in Nigeria for the past five years has been between 8% to 10% of the total education budget. This implies that more funds are needed for teacher education. For example Edo State allocation to College of Education, Ekiadolor between 2008 to 2014 shows a meager sum when compared to the annual budget of the state within the same period. 

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