EXTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS PARTICIPATION IN THE MANAGEMENT OF EDUCATIONAL FACILITIES IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE, NIGERIA

Abstract

Educational facilities play critical but important roles in the life of school systems. As a result, the
management of school facilities is given serious consideration by both internal and external
stakeholders. This study examines external stakeholders participation in the management of
educational facilities in public secondary schools in Rivers State, Nigeria. Two research questions
and 2 hypotheses guided the study, which employed the descriptive survey as the design. The
population of the study was 527 public and private secondary schools, with a corresponding
number of 527 principals, from where a sample of 264 principals (124 from public schools & 140
from private schools) was selected, using the stratified random sampling technique. The
instrument of the study was a 16-item instrument titled External Stakeholders Participation in
Educational Facilities Management Scale (ESPEFMS), with a reliability of 0.95 designed by the
researchers in the modified 4-point likert scale model. Mean, weighted mean, and aggregate
weighted mean scores were used in answering the research questions, while critical ratio statistics
was used in testing the hypotheses at 0.05% alpha level. The findings of the study show that
external stakeholders participate in the maintenance and security of educational facilities, just as it
has been recommended that school authorities should encourage external stakeholders’
continuous participation by ensuring that facilities provided are maintained for effective utilization.