THE RETURN OF MISSION OWNED SECONDARY SCHOOLS TO THE MISSIONS: NIGERIA AS A CASE STUDY
Enomah Sylvester (PhD) Department Of Public Administration, Faculty Of Administration And Management, Delta State University Of Science And Technology, Ozoro, Nigeria
Volume 4, Issue 2, December 2024
About a decade ago the government returned mission owned secondary schools back to the missions. Although this action of government is laudable it has generated some controversies which border on the areas of the rationale behind the return, the fate of secondary education after the return; the idea of establishment of parallel secondary schools by government after the return; the fate of government secondary school staff, the state of employment and security after the return; the nature of the National Policy on Secondary School Education, and the question of free and equal access to education of every Nigerian child. The study articulate the implications of the return schools by the government to the missions, acceptance of these schools by the missions, and the responsibilities this exercise has placed on the shoulders of both the government and the missions for the overall realization of the rationale behind the handing over mission owned schools back to the missions by the government. The paper concludes that although the handing over of secondary schools to the mission by government is good and the expertise of the missions in effective administration of the schools is guaranteed, it will create some adverse effects on education and society. The paper recommends that primary schools should also be handed over to the missions, government should provide grants-in-aid, security and the enabling environment to the mission schools, and that legal backing should be provided to avoid future government interferences. The methods adopted in this study include historical, speculative, analytical and prescriptive methods of philosophy.