EDUCATIONAL POLICY IMPLEMENTATION IN OWERRI EDUCATIONAL ZONE OF IMO STATE, NIGERIA: THE WAY FORWARD

Abstract

This study investigated educational policy implementation in Owerri Educational Zone of Imo State, Nigeria: The Way Forward. The population of the study consisted of all the teachers in both junior and senior secondary education levels in Owerri Educational Zone of Imo State, Nigeria totaling 3448. The sample size is 345 teachers that represent 10% of the entire population. Three research questions guided the descriptive survey. A 32 item structured questionnaire of four point Likert type was used to elicit data from the respondents. Validation of the instruments was carried out by two experts in curriculum studies and measurement and evaluation. The reliability index of 0.82 was established using Pearson Product Moment Correlation. Data analysis was done using mean with 2.5 as the reference for acceptance. The study revealed that a lot of challenges abound for the success of educational policy implementation to include: Inadequate budgeting for education, quality of teachers and instability of government. It was also revealed that the suggested way forward will help ameliorate the challenges of educational policy implementation in both the junior and senior secondary education level in Owerri Educational Zone of Imo State, Nigeria. Based on the findings, it was recommended amongst others that government should make adequate and appropriate budget for education, ensure strict monitoring of  release of funds to the right direction for success of educational policy implementation in both junior and senior secondary education level in Owerri Educational Zone of Imo State, Nigeria; Teachers should embark on in-service training to update their knowledge to be abreast of education innovations and improve quality; there should be stability of government in power to avoid impromptu policy termination.