CHAPTER ONE


1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY


Kebbi State is a state in the North Western Nigeria. Its capital is Birnin Kebbi. The state was formed from part of Sokoto state in August 27th 1991. It has a total land area of 36,800km square with an estimated population of 3,630,931.The state is divided into 21 local government areas, four emirates councils (Gwandu, Argungu, Yauri and Zuru) and 35 districts.

Kebbi state shares boundaries with Sokoto state on the north eastern axis, Zamfara state on the eastern part of Niger state on the southern part and republic of Niger on the western part.

The state has a total of 303 primary schools and 301 post primary schools and about six higher institutions which include Kebbi state polytechnic Birnin kebbi, College of Agriculture Zuru, school of health technology Jega, Kebbi state University of Science and Technology (KESUSTA), school of Nursing Birnin Kebbi and College of basic and advance studies (COBAS) Yauri, Kebbi State.

The state government establishes schools boards to manage the affairs of the schools. Ministry of science and technical education is in charge of science and technical schools, secondary schools management board is in charge of other

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government senior secondary schools, while Arabic and Islamic education board is to manage Arabic secondary schools across the state, and Universal Basic Education board is in charge of all primary and junior secondary schools. But they are all responsible to the ministry of education which is under the control of a commissioner.

Leadership is also of particular importance in education administration because of its far reaching effects on the accomplishment of school programmes, objectives and attainment of educational goals. Peretomode,(1991). At the head of leadership at secondary school in Nigeria is the principal who administers the school with other teaching and non-teaching staff. Accordingly, the principal is regarded as the chief executive of the school, who is responsible for all that happens in the school Fasabi (2006). As the chief executive, the principal assigns duties to those who could perform the duties, though all responsibilities still reside in him as the accounting officer.

The position of the principal in the school is so germane to the extent that the school cannot exist without that position. Realizing the important role of the principals within the secondary school system, it is important to examine the leadership capacities of the secondary school principals. This is particularly important because of the fact that secondary education, especially in Nigeria serves as the bridge between the primary and tertiary level, although the junior secondary
 

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school (JSS) level in particular now is integral part of the universal basic education (UBE) program in Nigeria. The U.B.E is free, compulsory and universal. Principal competencies can be measured from various dimensions from the perception of students, parent, communities and their employers. For instance Scott, Jr and William (1987) agreed that, teacher’s perception of their principal’s leadership is one of the many variables which contribute to school productivity. Teacher’s perception of principal’s leadership behaviour is also related to teacher’s morale.

The principal is directly in every aspect of schools operation and thus the primary figure in determining the schools quality and character. Barth (1991) states that “show me good school and I will show you good principal’.

To develop harmonies and improve the quality of teachers and students performance in Kebbi state secondary schools, principal plays a vital role in the achievement of these objectives. This is because, the smooth running or failure of schools are attributed to its leadership. In the same vein, Arobayi (1984) pointed out that when a school is seen to be performing well in aspect of its objectives, it is the principal that receives its credit and when the school is not performing well, it is the principal that receives the blame. This goes on to show that, the ultimate aim of most schools is to get the right individual who will be an effective leader.
 







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1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM


It is often alleged that, most of the principals today seem to be heavily occupied by routine administrative duties and do not appear to be adequately involved in instructional programming of their respective schools which is part of their roles in which they play in secondary schools. It is probably for this reason that Abubakar (2001) observed that, the principals of Kebbi state secondary schools are more of administrative managers than supervisors of instruction; and this could obviously hinder successful implementation of school instructional program.

Furthermore, the academic performance of kebbi state secondary schools students in external examination (WAEC NECO and JAMB etc) has not commensurate with the investment made in secondary school by the state government. There are speculations that this poor performance of the student is attributed by the roles in which the principals of secondary schools in kebbi state play.

It was also alleged that: it was due to political influence played in the appointment of principals that leads to the appointment of inexperienced personnel to head the schools. Ozigi maintains. Ozigi (1994)

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This necessitates the need to study how well the principal performs the roles in secondary schools (kebbi state). The following are specifically focused:

1.  Provisions of facilities like text books, stationeries and basic audio-visual aids for teaching.

2.  Assigning teachers to appropriate subject areas and classes.

3.  Constant supervision of instruction in the school.

4.  Use of in-serve course and workshops to ensure staff development.

5.  Adequate motivation of staff.

6.  Direct participation in teaching to encourage and serve as models their teachers.

It is also observed that, there are other factors or issues that seem to militate against the effective performance of the principals roles in kebbi state secondary schools. These include:

1.  Non provision of instructional facilities and appropriate structure by the government.

2.  Abrupt changes in the school calendar and series of forced holiday resulting from religious festivities.

3.  Inability of parent to provide children with the required text books and other relevant material for learning.
 

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The above are the focus of the researchers.

1.3 RESEARCH QUESTIONS


For the purpose of this study, the following research questions would be investigated.

Do the principals regard themselves as, the instructional leaders or as administrative leaders?

Do the principals’ roles have any effect on the teachers and student performance?


To what extent do the principals provide adequate teaching facilities to teachers?


Do the teachers and student respect and abide by the principals instructions and directives?

Do the government policies in term of abrupt changes in school calendar and unscheduled holidays affect the roles of principals?

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY


To find out if the principals give equal attention to the instructional supervision and administration leadership.

To examine the effect of principals roles on the teachers and students performance.
 








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To assess the extent at which the principal provide adequate teaching facilities to teachers for the promotion of instruction in order to improve student performance.

To find out whether teachers and student respect and abide by the principals instructions and directives.

To find out the effects of government abrupt changes in schools calendar and unscheduled holidays to the roles of principals.

1.5 SINGIFICANCE OF THE STUDY


It is hoped that the result of this work, would be useful to the principals of secondary school in kebbi state via appreciating their roles as leaders in secondary schools. This will help them to develop appropriate leadership behaviour through motivating and promoting the welfare of staff that are very essential in the implementation of instructional programmes in the school.

It is also expected that, the result of the research    work will be useful to kebbi

state ministry of education in improving the standard and quality of education in the state.
 










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1.6 SCOPE AND DELIMITATION OF THE STUDY


The study is focused on the roles of the principals of secondary schools in kebbi state.

But due to financial constraints and time factors, the researchers would Endeavour to limit themselves to some selected secondary schools in kebbi state, using table for determining sample size.

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