COMPLETE SCHOOL PROJECT TOPICS & MATERIALS :
CHAPTERS: Chapter 1-5
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ABSTRACT
The study centered on public utilities and Students Academic Performances in tertiary institutions with Akwa Ibom State University (AKSU) as case study. The study was conducted with the objectives among others to: determine the Impact of Teaching Facilities, Learning Facilities, Welfare Facilities, Health Facilities, electricity, water supply and sewage disposal on Students Performances in AKSU. In line with the stated objectives, five research questions and a null hypothesis were formulated for the study. The study adopted the use of descriptive survey research design and out of the total population of 390, 390 copies of questionnaire were administered to both students and lecturers. Data gathered were analyzed using t-test at 0.05 level of significance. Findings of the study among others revealed that there is no significant difference in the opinions of students and lecturers on the impact of public utilities and facilities on students’ academic performance in tertiary institutions. Also, finding shows that there is no significant difference in the view of respondents on the impact of welfare/health facilities on students’ academic performances in AKSU. In view of the findings, it was concluded that school facilities remain one essential factor in the realization of the goals of tertiary education. The researcher recommended that: government and school authorities should make effort to provide sufficient public utilities including teaching and learning in tertiary institutions.
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
Developments in technology have eroded some of the natural monopoly aspects of traditional public utilities. For instance, electricity generation, electricity retailing, telecommunication, some types of public transit and postal services have become competitive in some countries and the trend towards liberalization, deregulation and privatization of public utilities is growing. However, the infrastructure used to distribute most utility products and services has remained largely monopolistic.
Public utilities can be privately owned or publicly owned. Publicly owned utilities include cooperative and municipal utilities. Municipal utilities may actually include territories outside of city limits or may not even serve the entire city. Cooperative utilities are owned by the customers they serve. They are usually found in rural areas. Publicly owned utilities are non-profitable Private utilities, also called investor-owned utilities, are owned by investors, and operate for profit, often referred to as a rate of return.
Public utilities provide services at the consumer level, be it residential, commercial, or industrial consumer. In turn, utilities and very large consumers buy and sell electricity at the wholesale level through a network of RTOs and ISOs within one of three grids, the eastern grid, Texas, which is a single ISO, and the western grid. The concept of ‘services of general interest’ usually employed within the European Union to refer to essential services subject to specific public-service obligations, also finds its counterpart in the United States (Defeuilley, 1999). In particular, the availability of affordable utility services (services of general economic interest, such as electricity, drinking water, wastewater collection and treatment, urban waste collection and treatment and urban transport) with an acceptable quality is a legal requirement in both jurisdictions (Clifton et al., 2005).
In Africa, the transference of general-interest services to local governments, driven by the subsidiarity principle, has been broadly documented (Baker et al., 2011). In the Nigeria, in addition to providing drinking water, wastewater, urban transport and waste services, cities are also responsible for many other types of services. Even the smallest cities may provide services that are unfamiliar to most municipalities in other countries (e.g. electricity, communications and police services). The broad range of competencies required for delivering these services and the growing budget restrictions facing local governments pose an important challenge to local decision-makers everywhere: ‘how to curb costs while meeting public-service obligations?’ Utility services are particularly problematic since they involve large investment outlays in specialized infrastructure and, quite often, local governments struggle with the economic sustainability of the systems (Pendovaska & Veljanovski, 2009). Furthermore, pressures towards resource conservation and environmental awareness represent new challenges to utility managers around the globe. We know that organizations matter (Menard, 1996) and that governance structures ‘must arise for some reason’ (Arrow, 1999: vii). Hence, to cope with these requirements it is important that local political leaders make thoughtful choices regarding the utilities’ governance models.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
There is no gain saying that, educational system in Nigeria has contributed in no small measures to support the Nation‘s economy through the provision of qualitative manpower and acquisition of knowledge, skills and values. In the 21st century, there has been a tremendous growth in students‘ population without corresponding growth in the number of facilities as a result of economic depression and corresponding rise in cost. This has put much pressure on existing facilities.
For any school to function effectively, active public utilities should facilitate the school. Thus the general public has expressed concern over the insufficiency of public utilities in facilities in Akwa Ibom State University. In spite of this concern and demand for a change, it appears that the management of facilities in Akwa Ibom State state schools leaves much to be desired.
It is not uncommon these days to see some classrooms full of potholes on the floor comparable to the scenes on the roads. Children scarcely find space to sit or move about. Lack of ceilings makes classrooms extremely hot for learning activities in hot weather. Some buildings have sagging roofs on them. When facilities are not maintained, they constitute health hazards to the users of the facilities. Students on their own will not perform effectively without facilities. The Students‘ academic performance will be negatively affected; the tone of the school will be at its lowest ebb and human and material resources.
The impact of electricity, water, classrooms, dormitories, libraries ,laboratories and instructional materials such as textbooks, blackboards and furniture on students performance constitutes the basics upon which many patrons make their initial judgment about the quality of the school and the educational programme. The absence of these facilities often leave a lot of doubt in the minds of stakeholders, parents, students and the general society as to what type of teaching and learning that could take place in such a situation. Appearance and general condition of school facilities are the striking basis upon which many parents and friends of any educational institution make the initial judgment about the quality of what goes on in the AKSU. Fabunmi (2007) in support of this asserted that school facilities when provided will aid teaching and learning programme and consequently improve academic performances of students. Indeed, the supply of some welfare/health facilities, such as electricity, pipe born water, clinic, toilet.
1.3 Objectives of the study
The main objective of the study was to examine the impact of public utilities on the students performances in AKSU, the study sought to:
- Determine the impact of teaching facilities on student academic performances in AKSU.
- Examine the impact of learning facilities on students‘ academic performance AKSU.
- Investigate the impact of health facilities on students‘ academic performance in AKSU.
- Find out the impact of sport and recreational facilities on students‘ academic performance in AKSU.
- Ascertain the impact of electricity, water supply and sewage disposal on students‘ academic performances in AKSU.
1.4 Research Questions
The following research questions were formulated to guide this study.
- What is the impact of teaching facilities on students‘ academic performance in AKSU?