SCHOOL INFRASTRUCTURE PROVISION AND EDUCATIONAL PRODUCTIVITY IN PUBLIC SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The persistent underperformance of students in public senior secondary schools across Rivers State, Nigeria, has continued to raise concerns about the productivity of the education system, prompting this study to investigate how school infrastructure provision relates to educational productivity in the state. Two objectives, research questions and hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted a correlational survey design and drew its population from principals, teachers, and Senior Secondary 2 students across the state's public senior secondary schools. Using a stratified random sampling technique based on the three senatorial districts, 320 valid responses were obtained from a structured instrument, the School Infrastructure and Educational Productivity Questionnaire (SIEPQ). Research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while the two null hypotheses were tested using the Pearson Product Moment Correlation Coefficient (PPMC) at the 0.05 level of significance. The results showed that both instructional facility availability and school building condition were rated, on average, above the criterion mean, indicating that respondents perceived these infrastructural elements as influential to a high extent. Correlational analysis further revealed a strong, statistically significant positive relationship between instructional facility availability and students' academic achievement, and a similarly significant positive relationship between school building condition and teachers' instructional effectiveness, leading to the rejection of both null hypotheses. The study recommended that the Rivers State Government, through the Ministry of Education and the Rivers State Secondary Schools Board, prioritise the sustained provision, renovation, and maintenance of instructional facilities and school buildings to improve learning outcomes and teacher effectiveness.