eme 201: introduction to educational planning

EME 201:
EDUCATIONAL
PLANNING
COURSE OUTLINE
2013/2014
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Objectives:
1.
2.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Generally, this course intends to expose students to the fundamental terms,
theories, tasks, tools, and techniques of educational planning in the context
of the overall national development plan.
Specifically, at the end of this course, students should be able to:
Define various planning traditions [such as vision, mission, philosophy, values,
policy, programmes, project, synthesis, rationalism and empiricism]
Understand the relationship between educational planning and national
development vision [for example, Vision 20-2020], mission, goals, objectives
and strategies [for example, NEEDS and the 5-Point Agenda of President
Jonathan of Nigeria].
Describe the broad educational planning process and identify major
professional planning tasks involved in the process [signaling risks to
authority, signposting for the authority, sensitizing authority and society and
scenario painting ]
Comprehend and differentiate among the synoptic, incremental, transitive,
advocacy and radical models of educational planning.
Explain the main planning techniques such as social demand, manpower
requirement and rate of returns
Understand the mechanisms for resource allocation in education both at the
system and school level
Understand the basic challenges facing educational planning in Nigeria
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Outline
1. Educational planning traditions [such as vision, mission,
philosophy, values, target setting, policy, programmes,
project, synthesis, rationalism and empiricism] [2weeksCan be used for a classroom discussion]
2. Relationship between educational planning and national
development plans [2 weeks]
3. Professional tasks involved in educational planning
process [2 weeks]
4. Educational planning models. [2 weeks]
5. Educational planning techniques [2 weeks]
6. Mechanisms for resource allocation in education [2
weeks]
7. Challenges facing educational planning in Nigeria [2
weeks –Can be usedCopyright
as an
assignment]
7/14/2014
J.B. Babalola 2014
Recommended Textbooks and Journal Articles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Babalola, J. B., (2008) Strategic Planning: Development, Implementation and the Role of
University Administrators. In Babalola, J. B. & Ayeni, A. O. [eds] Educational
Management Theories and Tasks. Lagos: Macmillan Nigeria Publishers, pp 110-129
Babalola, J. B. (2007). Reform and Development in Nigeria’s Tertiary Education: Focus
on the Obasanjo’s Administration. Babalola, J. B., Akpa, G. O., Ayeni, A. O. , Adedeji, S.
O. , (Eds.) Access, Equity and Quality in Higher Education.. Nigeria: NAEAP Publications.
Babalola J.B. (Ed, 2003): Basic Text in Educational Planning. Ibadan: The Department of
Educational Management, University of Ibadan, Ibadan
Babalola, J.B. and Sikwibele, A.L. (1999): Planning Primary Education to Ameliorate the
Effects of Adjustment in Nigeria in Journal of Educational Management, Vol. 2, (Ghana)
pp. 108 – 122.
Babalola, J.B. (1990): A Comparative Analysis of Education Development in Selected
African Countries, African Journal of Educational Management. Vol. 4, No. 1, pp. 48 –
59.
Babalola, J.B. (1990): Integration of the University Manpower Production to the Work
Environment in Nigeria and its implication for Planning of Higher Education in the 1990,
The Educational Planner. Vol. 1, No. pp. 15.
Babalola, J.B. (1988): Educational Planning for Self – Reliance in Nigeria: An
International Comparison Approach to Needs Assessment, African Journal of
Educational Management. Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 46 – 57.
Musaazi, J.C.S. (2006). Educational Planning: Principles, Tools and Applications in the
Developing World. Kampala: Makerere University Printery
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
components
classification
characterization
concept
Planning
Education
LESSON ONE
• Educational planning is
deliberately
and
systematically setting
out
in
advance
strategies,
policies,,
Plan
programmes
and
projects through which
Policy 1 Policy 2
a given educational
objective
can
be
Project1 Project3 accomplished within
the limit of the
available
resources.
Project2
CONCEPT OF
EDUCATIONAL
PLANNING
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
CHARACTERISTICS
OF EDUCATIONAL
PLANNING
Plan
Policy 1
Policy 2
1. Pervasive
–
–
–
Cut across all levels
The higher the more complex /quantitative
Coordination necessary
2. Primacy
–
–
First step in shaping future *Teacher’s plan+
What, how, when, who and where?
3. Purposeful
–
–
–
Driven by mission, goals and objectives/needs
Decision-making is central
Monitoring & evaluation needed
4. Perspective
Project1 Project3
–
–
Project future [short-, middle-and long-term]
The shorter the clearer the vision
5. Predictive
Project2
–
6. Plastic [flexible]
–
7/14/2014
Forecasting required
Bend or break
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
TOP-LEVEL
MANAGERS
MIDDLE-LEVEL
MANAGERS
LOW-LEVEL
MANAGERS
7/14/2014
ADMINISTRATION
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
FREQUENCY, ELEGANCE, MEHTOD.
INTENSITY OF DATA
PLANNING
Figure 1: Pervasiveness of Educational Planning Across Levels of Management
CLASSIFICATION OF EDUCATIONAL PLANS
CATALYSTS
to planning
• Resources involved
• Actors involved
• Instruments involved
Factors and criteria used to
delineate planning typologies
CHARACTER
of planning
7/14/2014
•Duration of the plan
•Scale of the plan
•Output of the plan
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Classification of Educational Planning
RA
ID
SO
7/14/2014
•Financial and physical planning
•Indicative and comprehensive planning
•Planning by incentives and executive fiats
•Perspective, short-term/contingent planning
• Centralized and decentralized planning
• Macro and micro planning
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Perspectives in Nigerian Education System
• Emancipation perspective [that education can
liberate people from ignorance, diseases and
poverty] and
• Instrumental perspective [that education can be
a mechanism to bring about economic growth
and development]
• These two perspectives explain why successive
governments have come up with policies,
programmes and projects to address the
challenges confronting the sector.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Constitutional Framework for Educational
Policy and Planning
• Under the 1999 Constitution, the federal
government has the responsibility of policy
formulation, planning coordination and quality
control.
• Nevertheless, other lower levels of governments and
private proprietors have the constitutional power to
plan,
coordinate
and
control
educational
programmes and projects in line with relevant
national policies
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Major Policy Domains in Education
• The following major policy domains continue to generate issues
for educational policy and planning in the country since
independence :
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
7/14/2014
Early Childhood Care and Education
Basic Education
Senior Secondary Education
Adult and Non-Formal Education
Technology and Scientific Education
University Education
Teacher Education
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
The task of educational planning comprises design of
coordinated programmes and projects
• Education being linked with national
development, the task of educational
planning is to design a costed proposal of
programmes and plans that can enhance
national development in a desired manner.
• Educational planning therefore, comprises
coordinated programmes and projects in
each of the above seven sub-systems of
education within a stipulated planning
period.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Past History of Policy and Planning : Global Factors that Led
to National Development Planning in Nigeria
Soviet plans led
to economic
growth;
Europe’s war-time
experience reinforced
the belief that
planning brings
success
Structuralism in
development
economics
encouraged
planning.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
The correlation between Soviet’s plans and
economic growth
• In the late 1920s Soviet Union initiated five-year
plans which everybody believed were the engines
behind the massive and successful industrialization
of the USSR.
• It was also widely believed that it was this plansdriven industrialization that enabled USSR to survive
Hitler’s onslaughts and became a superpower in the
post-war period.
• However, some experts like Agarwala [1983:3] were
of the opinion that the so called success of the
Soviet Plans could not be used to justify the need
for planning.
• it was not planning but exploitation of the peasant
to extract surplus in addition to a coercive political
enforcement of plans that translated to the
apparent “massive industrialization”.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
2.Success achieved through UK’s planning
experience during World War II
• Nevertheless, national planning became popularized by
the experience of the United Kingdom (UK) during World
War II.
• During the war, governments in UK efficiently controlled
and rationed most consumer goods, producer goods and
foreign exchange.
• The society then argued that the level of efficiency
attained through planning and control during this period
could not have been possible through open market.
• Encouraged by the level of success achieved through
government’s controls during the war, the European
post-war recovery programmes depended greatly on
national planning.
• The most popular counter argument against these war
and post-war planning experiences is that consensus and
cooperation achieved in times of war and post-war
development may not be achievable in time of peace
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
3.The initial structural orientation in development paradigms
that government control helps efficient allocation.
• pioneers of development economics, such as
Rosenstain, Rodan, Hirschman, Nurkee, Myrdal, and
Lewis, believed that:
– resource flows in developing countries are not
responsive to market prices
– This is owing to some structural factors such as
social, cultural and institutional rigidities
– Consequently, it would require deliberate
planning efforts to reallocate resources
efficiently.
• These economists emphasised market failures in
developing countries without paying much attention to
the possibility of government or bureaucratic failures.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Pre-Independence Planning Efforts
1. Universal Free Primary Education ‘Partial
Plan’ in the West[1954-1956]
2. Ten Year Plan of Development and
Welfare for Nigeria[1944-1946]
3. Morris’ Educational Proposal for Nigeria
as a Colony [1942-1944]
4. Davidson’s Educational Memorandum for
Nigeria as a Colony [1944-1948]
5. Ashby Commission’s 20 Years Plan *19601980] The development started in 1959
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Post Independence Plans
• Educational Plans incorporated into National
Development Plans
1.
2.
3.
4.
First National Development Plan
Second National Development Plan
Third National Development Plan
Fourth National Development Plan
• Incorporated in the Rolling Plans
• Incorporated into National Vision 20-20-20
• Incorporated into the National Economic
Empowerment and Development Strategy
• National Education Sector Strategic Plan
• State Education Sector Strategic Plans
• Incorporated into National Agendas
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
REMINDER: OUR OBJECTIVES
• Understand the relationship between educational
planning and national development vision [for
example, Vision 20-2020], mission, goals, objectives
and strategies [for example, NEEDS and the 5-Point
Agenda of President Jonathan of Nigeria].
• Describe the broad educational planning process and
identify major professional planning tasks involved in
the process [signaling risks to authority, signposting for
the authority, sensitizing authority and society and
scenario painting ]
• Comprehend and differentiate among the synoptic,
incremental, transitive, advocacy and radical models of
educational planning.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
PROFESSIONAL PLANNING TASKS
signaling risks to
authority
signposting
scenario
painting
7/14/2014
for the
authority
sensitizing
authority and
society
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Products, Participants and Processes
• Products
1. Plans
•
Sub-plans by sectors, sub-sectors, regions, programmes and
projects
–
–
–
•
Institutional
Departmental
Unit
Sub-divisions into chapters each devoted to particular projects,
programmes, sectors or sub-sectors
2. Projects
3. Programmes
•
Bye-Products
1. Evaluate estimated costs
2. Estimated costs are compared with resource allocation
to judge adequacy
3. Estimated costs are
compared
with envisaged benefits
7/14/2014
Copyright
J.B. Babalola 2014
Components of Institutional Planning
NORMATIVE
Identify
problems
being faced by
the institution
Decide what
ought to be
done
Choose
feasible
objectives and
goals
Set
targets
7/14/2014
STRATEGIC
Identify
feasible and
viable
projects and
programmes
Identify the
best possible
ways to
implement
OPERATIONAL
Identify
operational
steps to best
implement
each project
and
programme
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
MONITORING
AND
EVALUATION
Identify
performance
indicators to
monitor and
evaluate
progress
Identify the
mechanisms
STEPS AND PROCEDURE OF
INSTITUTIONAL PLANNING
• Choice of objectives and goals and target setting
• Stating specific objectives [purposes] of an
institution from the prospective
• Historical review of institutional performance
• Institutionalizing the structure of planning
[democratic and decentralized structure]
• Forging institutional interaction
• Developing the draft plans, sub-plans and byeproducts
• Stakeholder forum to discuss the draft plans
• Finalization of the plans
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Advantages
• It helps to close gaps between the macro and
micro objectives
• It helps to adapt macro plan to local resources
• Realistic and meaningful process owing to the
face-to-face opportunity to tap first hand
knowledge and experience at the grassroots
• Success is ensured since teachers, students
and community may easily be involved both in
plan formulation, implementation. Monitoring
and evaluation
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Disadvantages
• Difficult to close the gaps between macro
and micro
• Educational planners at the micro level
are not actually too free to do free
planning since many directives come
from macro
• Resources are more limited for planning
at the lower than at the upper level
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Problems of Educational Planning in Nigeria
1. Power Relations at the Directive Stage
2. Poor Preparation and Costing
3. Political-Oriented Evaluation and Approval
4. Perverted Implementation and Financing
5. Paucity of Review
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Power Play at the Directive Stage of Educational Planning
• In Nigeria, the politicians remain the key players at the directive
stage of the planning process.
• Making inference from Harris this dominance of politicians in the
directive stage of planning in Nigeria was not the practice during
the colonial days, when expatriate senior civil servants could
formulate educational policies based on their own initiatives
without taking directives from British politicians.
• “senior civil servants no longer formulate government policies,
but rather, provide policy advice and implement policy decisions
made by the political leadership.”
• following independence, bilateral and multilateral aid agencies
continued to encourage national planning by providing technical
assistance for plan preparation
• In the recent years, this idea of receiving educational policy and
planning directives from abroad clearly reflects in the Federal
Ministry of Education (FME) reform known as “WE CAN” (We
Educate for Character, Aptitude and our NEEDS) initiated in the
second half of 2006.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Poor Preparation
• regional proposals largely reflected the
recommendations of the various ad hoc
commissions.
• Technical problem: the technique used at
the national level by the then Ministry of
National Planning to allocate annual
expenditure figures over the planning
period was questionable
• lack of statistical data,
• lack of cost and financial information; and
• shortage of qualified or skilled planning
personnel
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Politically-Oriented Plan Approval
• The process of political approval of educational proposals to
be integrated into a particular national development plan
depends on the existing procedure for plan approval.
• Usually, the process involves the submission of educational
proposals, programmes and projects from relevant state
ministries and boards of education upward to a particular
national planning unit like the National Planning Commission.
• At the central level, there is need to carry out resource
availability, feasibility and consistency checks.
The
consistency check is particularly necessary to coordinate all
planning activities at the state and local government levels in
the light of national developmental priorities.
• Under normal condition, the criteria for evaluating a project
or a programme should basically include cost-benefit
approach. However, in the absence of personnel qualified to
appraise project economically and objectively, Nigeria
government often result to the use of subjective and political
methods.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Poor implementation
• Right from the colonial era, successive governments
in Nigeria have depended on supervisors of schools
for the implementation of educational projects.
• Nevertheless, supervisory problems such as acute
shortage of qualified supervisors, lack of supervisory
vehicles, and inadequate supervision and monitoring
of projects have been well documented [Wheeler,
1968 and UBEC, 2007].
• Supervision aside, finance has also posed as a
problem during implementation of plans in Nigeria.
• In fact, the first 20 years of national development
planning in Nigeria revealed a widening gap between
the first four plans and their implementations
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Variance between Planned and Actual Expenditures during the First Four
National Development Plans in Nigeria.
Planned
Perio
d
Planned
Expenditure
Actual
Expenditure
N Million
N Million
Deviation
(%)
1962-68
139.5 [10.3]
91.3 [8.5]
34.6
1970-74
400.0 [11.9]
254.6 [11.4]
36.4
1975-80
3222.1 [7.4]
2994.5 [10.2]
7.1
1981-85
3050.0 [7.2]
1483.9 [8.6]
51.3
Source:
7/14/2014 Computed from Table 1
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Paucity of Review
• review involves writing of progress reports at various
levels of implementation for consideration at the top.
• The progress reports at the lower and middle levels of
operation are meant to give account of the progress
achieved during each financial year indicating failures to
achieve targets, reasons for such failures and
recommendations for re-phasing
• At the top level, there must be financial reports by the
management bodies to give account of the amount of
resources available for the implementation
• Review hardly received any serious consideration in
Nigeria owing to the integration of educational
components into the development plans resulting in
little consideration for re-phasing of the implementation
of failed educational projects.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
EDUCATIONAL
PLANNING IN
NIGERIA
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
GENERAL OVERVIEW OF ISSUES
AND CHALLENGES OF
EDUCATIONAL PLANNING
IN NIGERIA
Joel B. Babalola
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Introduction
7/14/2014
• Public planning of education
is the process of initiating
development-oriented
policies, programmes and
projects to influence and
control future changes in
specific areas of education
over a period of years .
• Development of educational
plans by civil servants (in
form of annual, short-term,
rolling, medium-term, longterm and strategic plan) is
not a new experience in
Nigeria.
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
70 Years of Government’s Planning Activities in Nigeria
1. Ten-Year Plan of Development and Welfare of Nigeria
(1945-55).
2. Five-Year Development Plan (1955-1960, later extended to
1962).
3. First National Development Plan (1962-68);
4. Second National Development Plan (1969-74);
5. Third National Development Plan (1975-80 and the
6. Fourth National Development Plan (1981-85).
7. The Fifth National Plan (overtaken by SAP, 1986-90)
8. National Perspective Plan (1990-2009)
9. 3-Year Rolling Plan (1990 –1991-1992) first leg of (8)
10. Nigerian Vision 20-20-20
11. Obasanjo’s NEEDS and SEEDS (10-Year ESSP for Nigeria)
12. Yaradua’s Seven-Point National Agenda
13. Jonathan’s Five-Point National Agenda
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Educational Planning Efforts in Nigeria
1.
Universal Free Primary Education ‘Partial Plan’ in the
West[1954-1956]
2. Ten Year Plan of Development and Welfare for Nigeria[19441946]
3. Morris’ Educational Proposal for Nigeria as a Colony [19421944]
4. Davidson’s Educational Memorandum for Nigeria as a Colony
[1944-1948]
5. Ashby Commission’s 20 Years Plan *1960-1980] The
development started in 1959
6. National Curriculum Conference (1960)
7. Education plan as an integral part of National Development
Plans (1962 to date)
8. National Policy on Education (1978, 2004)
9. Basic Education Law (2004)
10. National Education Sector Strategic Plan (2007(
11. State Education Sector Strategic Plans
12. Education as an integral part of National Agendas
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
PROFESSIONAL PLANNING TASKS
signaling risks
to authority
signposting
scenario
painting
for the
authority
sensitizing
authority and
society
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
General Steps in Educational Planning
Negotiations,
Appraisal &
Approval
Situation
Analysis
Implementation
& Monitoring
mechanism
Target
Setting
Costing &
Budget
Preparation
7/14/2014
Intervention
Planning
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Situation Analysis
• Situation analysis involves the diagnosis of the
education system using some quantitative and
qualitative indicators to gain a clear understanding of
the system
• The aim is to make a realistic assessment of
achievements against the targets, the constraints and
the reasons for any difference between the targets set
and the actual achievements.
• A reliable data base is necessary to diagnose an
education system.
• The challenges facing educational planning at this stage
are unreliable data base coupled with competence
problem and the consequential poor diagnosis
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Target Setting
• Target setting involves:
1. Knowing government’s dreams or intentions (wider and
equitable access, full enrolment, increased retention and
high achievement level) for the next few years
2. Translating the dreams into specific, measurable and
achievable targets specifying the deadline to achieve each
of the dreams (specifying the period of the plan stating
the take-off time and the destination time for each goal).
3. Setting targets for all intervening years within the
planning period.
• Setting targets for all intervening years may help to
– Monitor the progress on yearly basis
– Review the implementation strategies and
– Revise the targets for the coming years.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Intervention
Strategies
(Action
Planning)
7/14/2014
• A strategy is made up of
activities and their tasks
that must be done to
achieve each target.
• A strategy for improving
access can be ‘opening of
new schools’ comprising
activities such as
‘construction of school
building’, which in turn is
made up of many tasks
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Intervention Strategies (Action Plan)
• construction of school building as an activity is made up of
many tasks such as:
1. identification of habitations without schools
2. identification of habitations qualifying for opening schools
3. listing and prioritization of habitations
4. deciding about the number of schools to be opened
5. identification of habitations where schools are to be
opened
6. deciding the location or the site of the school
7. acquiring site or transfer of land
8. identification of agency for construction and supervision
9. actual construction work
10. monitoring and supervision of construction work
11. finishing and furnishing of school building.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Intervention Strategies (Action Plan)
• An effective strategy is expressed in a:
1. Continuous actions (indicating activities with their
tasks) indicating what should be done on every step
of the way until a particular target (say improving
access) is reached.
2. Consistent small changes on yearly basis
(sequencing and phasing out the activities and their
tasks) indicating that an action is broken down into
graduated accomplishable steps that will cumulate
in the expected major changes at the end of the plan
3. Continuous assessment mechanisms to measure the
progress of each programme or project every step of
the way
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Costing and Budgeting
•
Translating all the activities and tasks which have financial implication into
financial requirements is essential for funding purpose.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
•
Various steps that are involved in estimation of financial requirements are:
listing of all the activities to be undertaken
classifying all these activities into those with and without cost implications
classifying the activities which have cost implications into recurrent (salaries, training,
maintenance of building, equipment, furniture, infrastructure, travel costs; stationary and
consumables, contingencies, rents etc.) and capital (construction of school building,
additional classrooms, toilets, fencing wall, equipment, furniture; infrastructure; vehicle
etc.) heads
working our the average cost of recurring activities and unit cost for non-recurring activities
estimation of costs separately under the recurring and non-recurring heads.
In costing the plan, it is important to take into consideration the financial parameters fixed
by the higher level decision making bodies and adhere to the ceilings on various items and
other financial parameters prescribed by the approving body which may be the federal or
the state government.
For budgeting purposes, activities should be classified according to the year of
beginning and completion of the activities and the budget should correspond to
the activities indicated to be completed in that particular year
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Implementation and Monitoring Mechanism
• Steps in planning for implementation of educational progammes or
projects are:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
listing of activities that make up the programme
thinking through each of these activities
establishing inter-relationships between these activities
establishing a network
setting activity duration
determining material, equipment and human resource needs
deciding about time duration for the programme implementation of each activity
identifying identical activities of the programme which can not be overlooked
without affecting the duration of the programme implementation and resources
invested in it
9. thinking about organizational arrangements for carrying out programme
activities.
10.constructing implementation schedules by converting an educational plan into an
operating time table which establishes start and completion time of all the
activities of the programme/plan using Programme Evaluation and Review
Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM).
•
A failure in the achievement of plan targets in the education sector is generally
attributed to the lack of detailed implementation plan
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Negotiations, • Negotiation is the process of
Appraisal and
bargaining for more resources
Approval
• In the process, opinion of a
team of experts is sought
about the soundness and
feasibility of plan proposals
• Depending on the findings,
an approving authority might
propose some cut in resource
requirement, suggest some
re-prioritizations
and
revisions.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Process-Related Issues in Nigerian Educational Planning
Power Relations at the
Directive Stage
Poor Preparation and
Costing
Political-Oriented
Evaluation and Approval
Perverted
Implementation
Paucity of Review and
rephrasing
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Power Play at the Directive
• According to Wheeler (1968), issuance of planning directives
was the prerogative of politicians in Nigeria during the
colonial days, when expatriate senior civil servants could
formulate educational policies based on their own initiatives
without taking directives from British politicians.
• Wheeler [1968:36] however observed that following the
independence, “senior civil servants no longer formulate
government policies, but rather, provide policy advice and
implement policy decisions made by the political leadership.”
• Internal politics of planning aside, there is also the
international side to issuance of directives concerning
education from abroad especially, donor-driven educational
projects
• The implication of a politically-driven education agenda on
ownership and success rate is very clear.
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
7/14/2014
Poor Preparation
• Wheeler (1968) evaluated the preparation of educational
programmes within the First National Development Plan and
discovered that the regional proposals largely reflected the
recommendations of the various ad hoc commissions owing
to lack of technical knowhow.
• In 2006, UNESCO also identified the need to empower federal
government’s personnel in charge of educational planning,
research and statistics to enhance their simulation skills
towards better plan preparation (Babalola, 2008).
• Since Nigerian independence in 1960, poverty of educational
plan preparation has been closely linked with
1. lack of statistical data,
2. lack of cost and financial information; and
3. shortage of qualified or skilled planning personnel at the
federal, state and local government levels.
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
7/14/2014
Politically-Oriented Plan Approval
• Approval of educational proposals to be integrated into a
particular national development plan depends on the existing
procedure for plan approval.
• Usually, the process involves the submission of educational
proposals, programmes and projects from relevant state
ministries and boards of education upward to a particular
national planning unit like the National Planning Commission.
• At the central level, there is need to carry out resource
availability, feasibility and consistency checks.
The
consistency check is particularly necessary to coordinate all
planning activities at the state and local government levels in
the light of national developmental priorities.
• Under normal condition, the criteria for evaluating a project
or a programme should basically be technical and objective.
However, Nigeria governments often result to the use of
subjective and political methods resulting in inclusion of
technically unacceptable but politically acceptable projects .
The result of such a procedure is most likely to be a failure.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Poor implementation
• Right from the colonial era, successive governments in Nigeria
have depended on supervisors of schools for the
implementation of educational projects.
• Supervision of Nigerian education is faced with acute shortage
of qualified supervisors, lack of supervisory vehicles, and
inadequate supervision and monitoring have been well
documented (Babalola, J. B., Tukur, H and Nzeribe, A., 2007)
• Supervision aside, finance has also posed as a serious
problem during implementation of education plans in Nigeria.
• In fact, the first 20 years of national development planning in
Nigeria revealed a widening gap between the first four plans
and their implementations.
• See Table 1 in the next slide
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
7/14/2014
Table 1:
Variance between Planned and Actual Expenditures during
the First Four National Development Plans in Nigeria
Planned
Period
Planned
Expenditure
N Million
Actual
Expenditure
N Million
Deviation
(%)
1962-68
139.5 [10.3]
91.3 [8.5]
34.6
1970-74
400.0 [11.9]
254.6 [11.4]
36.4
1975-80
3222.1 [7.4]
2994.5 [10.2]
7.1
1981-85
3050.0 [7.2]
1483.9 [8.6]
51.3
Source:
Babalola, J. B. (2008) Educational Policy and Planning in Nigeria: Problems and
Prospects. In Development and Sustainability in Nigerian Educational System: 2nd National
Conference Proceedings. Ago-Iwoye: Institute
of Education,
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B.
Babalola 2014Olabisi Onabanjo University)
Paucity of Review of Progress
• The task of review involves writing of progress reports at
various levels of implementation of educational projects for
consideration at the top executive level.
• The financial reports by the top management bodies are
meant to give account of the amount of resources available
for the implementation of education projects.
• The progress reports at the lower and middle levels of
operation are meant to give account of the progress achieved
in the realisation of targets during each financial year
indicating failures to achieve targets, reasons for such failures
and recommendations for re-phasing the implementation of
failed projects if necessary.
• However, review of progress hardly receive any serious
attention in Nigeria since the integration of educational
components into the development plans does not permit a
serious consideration for re-phasing of failed educational
projects.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Persistent Planning Challenges in Nigeria
• Although efforts have already been made to discuss some of the
challenges faced at various stages in the process of educational
planning in Nigeria, it is important to clearly itemize and discuss the
following factors which may lead to the failure of any plan:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Contextual problems
Conflict of cultures
Consultation:
Capacity issue (professional and executive):
Coordination:
Capturing of data:
Consumption of external 'models
Constraints (financial constraint, distortion in plan and
abandonment of projects):
9. Commitment to and continuity of plan by successive
administrations:
10. Compromising professional considerations on the ground of politics
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Contextual problems
• Educational plans are bound to fail where there are
inadequate networks of schools, roads, ICT, electricity,,
hospitals and housing to sustain education initiatives.
• Corruption makes it difficult for them to achieve planned
efficiency in the use of the few resources available to
education.
• Income inequality where the poor have remained poor could
not allow the introduction of cost-recovery initiative.
• Political crisis makes it is difficult to convince investors to
invest in Nigeria for fear of their security.
• Unemployment renders skill acquisition useless
• Harsh environment seemingly contributes to plan failure in
Nigeria
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Conflict of cultures
• Nigeria has an inherited culture of privacy and sellers
are kings instead of that of openness, accountability
and customers are kings
• This is evidenced in Nigerian universities that engaged
in strategic planning where definition of stakeholders
excludes “end-users” such as employers, contractors ,
providers of resources and policymakers
• When these end-users are included in the process of
strategic planning, the results can be dramatically
different than if these groups are not given
opportunities for meaningful participation.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Consultation
• lack of meaningful consultation led Nigeria to
establish the National Economic Advisory Council
in 1972 to ensure accommodation of various
interests in the planning process.
• Yet, there is lack of permanent forum for regular
consultation with the private sector and other
stakeholders in education.
• Since there is no permanent consultation with
the stakeholders (especially the private sector),
ad hoc stakeholders’ meetings are usually
arranged between the representatives of the
private sector and government ministries
whenever there are issues of common interest to
discuss.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Capacity: professional and executive
• Except the national planning office which has a cadre
of trained planners, very few ministries and agencies
at the federal, state and local levels in Nigeria have
such an expert to undertake planning on a
permanent basis.
• Consequently, most projects submitted to fill the
macro plan reach the central as mere ideas with lack
the necessary preliminary appraisals to establish
feasibility and estimate costs of the projects.
• Inadequate executive capacity is another problem
affecting the implementation of good educational
plans, programmes and projects in Nigeria.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Coordination
7/14/2014
• Inadequate coordination of
all elements can cause delays,
suspicion, and a withholding
of commitment that may
ultimately cause plan to fail.
• in Nigeria, planners in PR&S
often clash with
administrators and
accountants in Finance and
Administration (F&A)
regarding role conflict and
power tussle.
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Capturing of data
• Poor quality of information during the planning
exercises has always hindered plan implementation
in the education sector in Nigeria
• Institutions lacking data will need to generate it
during the planning process, and consider actions to
develop an appropriate management information
system for sound and well-informed judgment.
• Nigerian Educational Management Information
System (NEMIS) has improved the situation in
education, the impact is till minimal making
projections to be based often on estimate rather
than facts.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Consumption of external 'models'
• A crucial factor in many countries has been the role
of foreign advisers whose advice has been supported
by large sums of foreign aid.
• Their influence has been compounded by the
demonstration effects of the education systems of
developed countries
• these systems evolved over many years largely on
the basis of their close relationship to employment
markets which is grossly inefficient in Nigeria
• Nigeria, being a 'late developers' have imported
wholesale foreign planning techniques that promote
the 'western' norms of quantitative evaluation
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Constraints: financial-distortion-abandonment
• There is the need for appropriate resources to carry
out and implement educational plans.
• But as the economy of the country deteriorated,
government was frequently unable to provide the
funds indicated in planned budgets.
• This created an environment of great funding
uncertainty, which undercut the validity of planning
activities.
• This problem was pronounced in the First National
Plan when about 50% was expected from foreign
sources and in the Third National Plan, where much
fund was expected from
oil.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Commitment to targets and continuity by
successive administrations
• Lack of a long-term commitment to planned
targets and the associated requirement for timely
and relevant political support for agreed plan is a
serious problem in Nigeria.
• Administration is expected to be a continuous
process but this appears not be so in Nigeria
• The usual trend is to organize an Education
Summit where a new agenda for education would
be ‘strategically’ presented to rule out the
existing plan if found unacceptable to the new
government.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Compromising professional considerations
on the ground of politics
• The determinants of this provision of education are
complex and include cultural and social, political and
economic factors.
• At the end, when planners incorporate all socially
demanded education projects into a plan, the
changes that need to be made are in many cases so
large that it can be difficult to see where to start and
how they can be implemented.
• In most cases, the resources available are not always
enough to match the projected cost resulting in an
arbitrary cut in planned activities and budget.
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
Suggest the appropriate way forward to address
each of the following ten challenges
S/N
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
CHALLENGE
Contextual problems
Conflict of cultures
Consultation:
Capacity issue (professional and executive):
Coordination:
Capturing of data:
Consumption of external 'models
Constraints (financial constraint, distortion in
plan and abandonment of projects):
Commitment to and continuity of plan by
successive administrations:
Compromising professional considerations on
the ground of politics
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014
WAY FORWARD
7/14/2014
Copyright J.B. Babalola 2014

Download Report