Attitude of Parents towards Public and Private Secondary Schools: A Case Study of Parents in Maiduguri (MMC) of Borno State

Abstract

This survey study sought to examine the attitude of the parent towards public and private secondary schools in Maiduguri and Jere metropolis. The population consisted of all the parents and guardians of children in public and government-approved private secondary schools: Purposive random sampling was used to select 180 parents from various schools in the study area. Researchers made a questionnaire for data collection. The instrument was validated and has a reliability coefficient of 0.88 determined through the Cronbach alpha method. The data collected was analyzed using mean and standard deviation in answering the four research questions posed. The findings revealed some factors such as teacher quality and quantity, school environment, facilities, effective curriculum implementation, and stability of academic activities as responsible concepts for parents' perception on their preference in choice of secondary schools. The study also reveals that some parents are less interested in quality and standard in training their wards. This has given proprietors of schools the opportunity to establish more schools, some of which are not even registered. It was recommended among others that government should set the standard and regulate the existing private schools, close down those that are not up to standard and improve teaching and teaming facilities in the public schools to make them more attractive.