Evaluation of the implementation of pre-primary education objectives

This study evaluated the level of implementation of the objectives of pre-primary education as stated in the National Policy on Education in Nigeria. Ten research questions and four hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study consisted of all the public and private pre-primary schools in Bayelsa East Senatorial District which was made up of 28 schools and 208 teachers. A simple random sampling method and a proportionate stratified procedure were used to generate 90% of teachers and schools. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire and a checklist. The questionnaire was used to evaluate the objectives of pre-primary education while the checklist was used to find out the extent of availability of material/infrastructural facilities in the schools. The instrument was validated through expert judgement for the content and construct validity. The reliability of the instrument was established by the use of Cronbach alpha method and a reliability coefficient of 0.829 was obtained. The research questions were analyzed with the use of mean with a mean of acceptance of 2.5 as the benchmark of 4 point rating scale. The t-test statistics was used to test the four null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance and it was found in the study that the four null hypotheses were retained. The study revealed that there was no significant difference on the extent of the implementation of the objectives of pre-primary education in rural and urban areas, private and public schools, qualified and non qualified teachers as well as male and female teachers. The study also revealed that a lot of the objectives of pre-primary education have been implemented. It also shows that despite the achievement of most of the objectives teachers’ qualification was very low. Material/infrastructural facilities were also not adequate in all the schools. It was recommended that there be availability of material and infrastructural resources in the schools, and more pre-primary schools should be established in the existing primary schools.