ABSTRACT
The study was designed to examine the comparison of
social and private cost and benefit of public secondary education in Education
District V public Senior
Secondary school in Lagos State.
The purpose of the study was to find out the extent to which private and social
costs vary with private and social benefits at secondary level of education.
The population consisted of all the senior
secondary school students in 65 public senior secondary schools. The sample
used for the study consisted of 20 public senior secondary schools, which was
30% of the total population 5 senior secondary schools were randomly selected
though simple random sampling. In each school, 30 students were selected.
Therefore, a total of 600 students and 600 workers srved as the sample for the
study.
The data collected were used to test four research
hypotheses stated using the t-test analysis.
The following conclusion was reached based on the
result of findings of the study:
There is a significant difference between the
social cost and private costs of secondary education in Lagos State.
There is no significant difference between the
social benefit and private benefit of secondary education in Lagos State.
There is a significant difference between the
private cost of educating the male female students in secondary education in
Lagos State.
Also, there is a significant difference in the
private benefit of educating the male and female students in secondary
education in Lagos state.
Finally, recommendations were offered based on the
result of findings form the study.
TABLE OF
CONTENTS
Title page i
Certification ii
Dedication iii
Acknowledgement iv
Abstract vi
Table of contents viii
CHAPTER
ONE: INTRODUCTION
1.1
Background to
the Study 1
1.2
Statement of
the Problem 6
1.3
Purpose of
the Study 8
1.4
Research
Questions 8
1.5
Research
Hypotheses 9
1.6
Significance
of the Study 10
1.7
Scope of the
Study 11
1.8
Limitation of
the Study 12
1.9
Operational Definition of Terms 12
CHAPTER
TWO: REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
2.1
The Concept
of Education 13
2.2
Types of
Education 18
2.3
The Concept
of Cost of Education 21
2.4
Factors
Influencing Education Costs 26
2.5
Rates of
Return on Investment in Secondary
Education (Social and Private) 31
2.6
Education and
Earnings 34
2.7 Theoretical Review 36
2.7
Appraisal of
Reviewed Literature 37
CHAPTER
THREE: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
3.1
Research
Design 40
3.2
Population of
the Study 40
3.3
Sample and
Sampling Technique 41
3.4
Research
Instruments and Instrumentation 42
3.5
Validity of
the Instrument 43
3.6
Reliability
of the Instrument 43
3.7
Procedure for
Data Collection 43
3.8
Method of
Data Analysis 44
CHAPTER
FOUR: DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF RESULTS
4.1
Hypothesis
One 47
4.2
Hypothesis
Two 48
4.3
Hypothesis
Three 49
4.4
Hypothesis
Four 51
CHAPTER
FIVE: SUMMARY, DISCUSSION OF RESULTS CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
5.1
Summary of
the Major Findings 53
5.2
Discussion of
Results 54
5.3
Conclusion 55
5.4
Recommendations 56
REFERENCES
58
APPENDIX
60
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
The
concept of education as a productive investment in human skills, knowledge, and
capabilities has been in the literature since the first evaluative studies about fifty years ago. Education and
secondary education in particular has been increasingly recognized to play a
crucial role in the growth of national income individual earnings, political,
technological and social development of any nation.
In today’s globalized and knowledge based economy,
greater value and higher priority are placed on the production and distribution
of knowledge as the prerequisite for economic growth and development. Education
generally is the major source of providing and increasing the human capital
needed for the knowledge production. Education has been defined in various form
by different scholars. Omokhodion and Dosunmu (2000) define education as
deliberate and directional human
endeavour which can lead to the
provision of positive learning experiences. They also stressed that experience
gained by the learner from the input of education prepares him to be useful to
both the society and themselves.
Olaniyonu,
Adekoya and Gbenu (2008) sees education as a continuous process in life. It
begins from one’s birth to death. It starts from homes and continues even after
school to adulthood.
According
to Adeyinka and Kayode (1996) the general purpose of education is to enable the
individual to fix himself up in the society unto which he has been born to
live, to enable him explore the world and find his own place in it, to enable
him develop his potentials to the full so that he could acquire knowledge and training
in a profession and so earn a good living.
In
Nigeria,
the broad aims of secondary education as contained in the National Policy on
Education are preparation for useful living within the society, and preparation
for higher education. (Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004).
Secondary
education is a form of education which is very important and essential in Nigeria.
Without this education, it is impossible to acquire higher education in Nigeria.
Education
is believed to have economic value which is enhanced by a well educated, highly
skilled and qualified workforce. For these reasons, governments all over the
world including the Nigerian government are providing more education to its
citizens either free or at highly subsided rates. This investment is comprised
of the direct costs of education and the earnings foregone while the individual
is in school.
The
provision for education particularly secondary education either by the
government or by the individual parents involve huge financial resources. These
financial investments in secondary education particularly by the government
reflects commitment and the importance attached to education compared with
other spending priorities such as health, agriculture, defence etc which is
usually determined by the proportion of government budget in relation to the
Gross Domestic Product.
The
socio economic rationale for providing secondary education especially in
developing countries is the Cost Benefit Analysis of the investment in
secondary education. Generally, given limited investible funds, cost Benefit
Analysis is the method of evaluating the growth / net economic impact of public
projects involving public expenditure. It is founded in the concept of
rationality in that it involves rational decision making that weighs the pros
and cons of any chosen option based on the clearly stated objective, economic
value of the project and ranks alternative investments in term of their
objective functions (profits, social benefits etc) and then considers
investments that will yield optimum results. Hence, the purpose of Cost Benefit
Analysis is to determine whether a project is desirable from the social welfare
point of view by determining the financial feasibility and economic performance
of projects. This serves as the basis for justification of the
investments.
Also,
cost Benefit Analysis as an investment appraisal method is a marginal analysis which provides
the conceptual framework for examining the costs and the benefits of investment
in terms of how, when and where the project/ activity should be carried
out.
With
regards to educational investments, Cost Benefit Analysis emphasizes the
importance of determining the viability of any investment before it is made. It
is widely acknowledged that, in the education sector, particularly secondary
education, investment decisions as to the amount and type of education to
demand and invest in, is taken either by the individuals parents, government or
the society at large.
Every
of these levels in the matrix considers their own costs and benefits as a
prelude to opting in or out of the venture. Since education particularly
secondary education is of great economic significance to governments and their
citizens, with limited available resources at the disposal of policy makers in the
education industry and with investment decisions to be made by both the
individuals and governments, it is necessary that efforts should be made to find
out the yield or benefits derivable from investments in secondary education. It
is against this background that this study intend to analyze costs and benefits
of secondary education in Education District V of Lagos State with a view to
determining the economic profitability.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
Secondary
education in Nigeria
is very important because without it one cannot further his or her education.
The government both at federal and state levels are investing huge sums of
money into this type of education with the hope that it will benefit its
citizens and the economy so also is the private individuals. On the other hand,
parents and the individuals are increasingly demanding for more of this type of
education with the aim of creating a prosperous family in the future. Hence the
place of education as a profitable investment cannot be over estimated. It is
therefore necessary to find out the profits that are expected from investment
in secondary education. This study is expected to find out the extent to which
the social cost of secondary education varies with the social benefits and the
extent to which private cost of secondary educations varies with the private
benefits.
The
study therefore is an attempt in answering the following questions.
1.
How can the investment in secondary
education be justified?
2.
Will the social benefits for secondary
education increase with the increase in
social cost?
3.
Will the private benefits of secondary
education increase with increase in private costs?
1.3 Purpose of the Study
The
purpose of the study was to:
i.
Examine the extent to which the social
cost of secondary education in education District V of Lagos State Vary with
their private costs.
ii.
Examine the extent to which the social
benefits of secondary education in Education District V of Lagos state vary
with their private benefits.
iii.
Compare the costs and benefits of
educating the male and female students in secondary schools in Education
District V of Lagos State.
iv.
Examine the extent to which the private
return to secondary education in Education District V of Lagos State vary with
the social returns.
1.4 Research Questions
The
following are the research questions for this study.
i.
Is there any significant difference
between the social costs and private costs of secondary education in Education
District V of Lagos State.
ii.
Is there any significant difference
between the social benefits and private benefits of secondary education in
Education District V of Lagos State?
iii.
Is there any significant difference in
the private cost of educating the male and the female students in secondary
education in Education District V of Lagos State.
iv.
Is there any significant difference in
the private benefit of educating the male and the female students in secondary
education in Education District V of Lagos State?
1.5 Research Hypotheses
The
following hypotheses served as guide for this study
i.
There is no significant difference
between the social costs and private costs of secondary education in Education
District V of Lagos State.
ii.
There is no significant difference between
the social benefits and private benefits of secondary education in Education
District V of Lagos State.
iii.
There is no significant difference in the private cost of educating
the male and female students in secondary education in Education District V of
Lagos State
iv.
There is no significant difference in
the private benefits of educating the male and the female students in secondary
education in Education District V of Lagos State.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The
study will provide an insight for government, school authorities and education
managers to encourage individual to consider secondary education as a
preparatory stage to higher education
and not a terminal course.
The
study will encourage government (Federal and State) to ensure adequate funding
of secondary education.
The study will encourage policy makers to make
policy decisions with regards to teacher cost per student as the importance of
this direct social component cannot be over estimated.
Furthermore,
the study will encourage the government on the use of cost benefit analysis as
an investment appraisal tool in our education system as this can provide the
needed signal to direction of resources allocation.
1.7
Scope
of the Study
This
study was limited in scope to randomly selected public senior secondary schools
in Education district V of Lagos State this study did not extend to ministry of
Education. This study investigated the cost of secondary education in selected
public senior secondary schools in Education District V of Lagos State. This
study did not consider privately owned secondary schools in Education District
V of Lagos State.
This
study also investigated the benefit /returns to investment in secondary education in the public and
private sectors of education District V
of Lagos State using the age education earnings profile of workers with
secondary school qualification.
1.8 Limitation of the Study
The
study was limited by the difficulty of obtaining accurate data on the cost of
secondary education especially the social cost as most of the Administrator of
the schools were not able to release all needed information for fear of being
probed. The students on the other hard, were not able to state accurately the
private cost of their education.
1.9
Operational
Definition Of Terms
Operational
definition of terms used in this study were as follow:
Benefit:
all positive outcomes of consequence (quantifiable and non quantifiable) that
result from actions of secondary education.
Cost:
the value of resources that are used up to develop implement and operate the
secondary education programme being analyzed.
Cost Benefit Analysis:
The relationship between the cost of investing in secondary education and the
value of the benefit that results from secondary education.
Direct Private Costs:
All costs incurred by the individual or their parents on educational expenses
e.g school fees poaches of book etc.
Indirect Private Costs:
Income foregone (opportunity cost) after tax by the individual while studying
on full time basis. Director social costs. All costs incurred by the government
in providing secondary education to its citizens. For example teaching and
non-teaching staff salaries and allowances, expenditures on stationeries etc.
Indirect Returns / Benefits:
All quantifiable and non-quantifiable rewards accruable to school certificate
holders..
Social Returns/ Benefits:
All quantifiable and non quantifiable rewards accruable to the society were
school certificate holder reside and works.
Investment:
Capital committed into acquiring secondary education with a view to profiting
later.
Secondary Education:
The type of education acquired by individual after successful completing the
primary school education.
Age – earning Profile:
Stream of income over the working life
time of the individual.
Wastages:
Extra quantifiable years spent by
secondary school certificate holders before leaving the school.
Productivity:
A measure of economic efficiency which shows how inputs in secondary education
are being converted into output.
Earnings Foregone:
opportunity costs of employment to the individual who chose to engage in an
educational endeavor.
Gross Domestic Product:
Total Value of all goods and services
produced in a country in a particular year.
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