ASSESSMENT OF GOVERNMENT EFFORTS ON POLICY AND IMPLEMENTATION OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION (ECE) IN PRIMARY SCHOOL IN OGBOMOSHO NORTH

Abstract

Early Childhood Education (ECE) being the ultimate background needed by the child to smoothly transit to the formal school system needs a solid foundation as any unstable foundation naturally will affect the other levels. Although the Early Childhood Education (ECE) has been entrusted in the hands of private owners, there is still a concern over the quality of the education given to these children. This necessitated a study that seeks to assess the implementation of Early Childhood Education (ECE). This study therefore focused on assessment of government efforts on policy and implementation of Early Childhood Education (ECE) in primary school in Ogbomosho North. The descriptive research design was used for this study, the [population consisted all primary schools teachers and head teachers in Ogbomosho North and a sample of hundred respondents consisting of twenty Head-teachers and eighty teachers was chosen with the use of random sampling techniques. A researcher- design questionnaire was used as instruments for data collection in this study. The data collected were analyzed with the use of frequency counts, percentage, mean rating and rank order. The findings of this study revealed that (i)to an average extent, government has made effort towards the policy making and implementation of early childhood education and (ii)some of the challenges facing Early Childhood Education are lack of provision for ECE teacher specialization, lack of qualified and trained teachers. Based on the findings from this study, it was recommended that government and all stakeholders should ensure effective implementation of the policy by providing all that this needed for the policy to work and that Government at the Federal, State and Local levels should show more interest in ECE by providing needed quality, human and material resources to ensure the effective implementation of the policy of ECE.