PRINCIPALS SCHOOL PLANT MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, AS PERCEIVED BY PARENT-TEACHER-ASSOCIATION EXECUTIVES IN NIGERIAN PUBLIC SCHOOLS.

Abstract

This descriptive survey study examines how Parent-Teacher Association (P.T.A) Executives perceive principals’ school plant management strategies in public secondary schools in south east states, of Nigeria in the areas of damage restitution, effective monitoring, maintenance culture, establishment of a maintenance workshop, encouragement of community participation, and setting aside equipment fee for plant maintenance. Six research questions and three hypotheses guided the study. The subjects consisted of 3,344. P.TA executives and 239 principals’ randomly and proportionately drawn from public schools in the five south-eastern states of Nigeria. The instrument for data collection was a researcher made 35 item questionnaire “PTA Executives’ Perception of Principals’ Management Strategies of School Plant Questionnaire” validated and with a reliability index of 0.08 using the Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation Coefficient Statistics. Data were collected using five trained research assistants who returned with a total of 3500 properly filled copies of the questionnaire. Means and percentages were used to analyze data related to the research questions while the t-test was used to test the hypotheses. Results revealed that the PTA executives and Principals’ agree on the need to apply the strategies of restitution for damages, setting aside equipment fee, and effective monitoring of school plant. They both disagree on the strategy of setting up of maintenance workshop. On the idea of community participation in school plant maintenance, the PTA agrees, but Principals’ disagree” The paper concludes that while a properly managed school plant contributes to the achievement of stated goals, certain factors including principals’ management strategies, PTA oversight, school location and size impact must be improved for this to happen.