ABSTRACT

The Nigerian educational system has for long, been a subject of criticism as a result of some perennial problems such as poor quality and lack of sufficient teachers, decaying infrastructure and lack of discipline which result in poor academic performance. The desire to solve these problems has made different governments to introduce various Reforms with the view to revamping the sector. The Universal Basic Education programme (UBE) is the latest Educational programme to be launched in1999 and this research was motivated by the desire to assess the impactof the programme in Kaduna South and Sabon Gari Local Government Areas of Kaduna State since its introduction fifteen years (1999-2014). Both primary and secondary sources were used for data, while Chi-square was used to test the Hypotheses. The research findings reveal that Public primary and junior secondary schools are still facing the problems of lack of adequate and qualified teachers with no organized form of training by the government. Also the morale of teachers is very low due to lack of incentives, and this has also resulted in lack of commitment by the teachers Another startling revelation by the research is that the Universal Basic Education has not improved the moral and academicperformance ofstudents in Kaduna South and Ssabon Gari local Governmen Areas of Kaduna state . The research therefore recommended that the authorities in kaduna south and sabon gari local government should ensure that only qualified staff are recruited while those already employed should be trained and retrained. it was also recommended infrastructural facilities should be adequately provided to public schools in order to contain the increase in students’ enrolment, more efforts should be made to sustain and improve on the enrolment of female students, more qualified teachers should be recruited while those in the service should be trained for greater efficiency, the teachers should be motivated to do give their best, more classrooms, laboratories, libraries and workshops should be provided to enhance the teaching of science subjects and to enable the students acquire necessary skills and the issue of discipline should be taken seriously by both teachers and parents .it was concluded that though the introduction of the universal basic education provided Nigeria with an opportunity to combat the decay in the nation’s educational sector, the system is still bedeviled with so many problems which have been confronting the system in the distant past. this means, not much has changed since the programme was launched fifteen years ago, and this calls for concerted efforts by the government (sponsors), implementers (educators) and the beneficiaries of the programme ( students and parents) to ensure the overall success of the programme.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       Background to the Study

The importance of education in the development of nations has never been in doubt.

Education has remained a social process in capacity building and maintenance of society

for decades. It is a weapon for acquiring skills, relevant knowledge and habits in the

changing world. Societies through ages have one form of education or the other, whether

indigenous or western education. This is because education is as essential as life itself on

the planet earth (Adepoju and Fabiyi, 2007). It is in realization of this that the governments

of different countries, including Nigeria have for long been making efforts to develop this

all-important sector that touches all aspects of human life.

Since 1948 when the United Nations made a de