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INFLUENCE OF STUDENTS PARTICIPATION IN THE DECISION MAKING OF FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION PANKSHIN ON THEIR ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

            A clarion calls when made to ascertain the Administrative decision making in educational institutions which are normally embarked upon by College Administrators, Provost, or Principals for the day to day running of their institutions. In the Colleges in particular, Administrative decisions covers such areas as regulation of teaching and learning activities, Courses assigned to faculty staff, promotion of staff, admission of students, students discipline, welfare of students, and the regulation of their conduct, budgeting and spending (Okeke, 2007). These decisions are made by College Administrators, Staff, and Students as a body. However, Administrative decision-making for students participation in this study covers students representation in the disciplinary committees of their Colleges, Students participation in formulation of rules and regulation on Students’ Union Government, Students participation in administrative decision-making on accommodation matters, students participation in decision-making on internally generated revenue like tuition fee, development fee, examination fee, library fee, and students participation in administrative decision-making on the selection of students leaders.

            Decision making is a process of selecting from among a set of alternatives in the light of given objectives. It can be viewed as a mental process resulting in the selection of a course of action among several alternatives (Burker& Miller, 2012). Decision making is also viewed as a judgment, a process of formulating and implementing decision a conscious selection among alternatives and a process of problem solving. The process of decision making includes the use of complex, logical, and mathematical process (Okeke, 2007). Decisions are classified into policy decisions, administrative or managerial decisions and operational or executive decisions. Ogbonnaya (2002) defined policy decisions as decisions made by public officials which give direction to public policy actions. While administrative decisions are decisions which determine the means to be used in achieving organizational goals (Obi, 2003). Operational decisions according to Okeke (2007), are decisions which are made on daily basis as cases arise. He added that executive or operational decisions are concerned with the ways in which different programmes of the institutions are been carried out.

The issue of effective administration has become critical in educations that are expanding enrolments and in nations with constrained resources. Success in increasing access to basic education has often led to declining quality of administration. However, in searching for the factors that promote quality, national programs and literature have increasingly emphasized administrators, staff and students as the engines of quality, with special attention to teacher quality identified as a primary focus. Administration is a process of coordinating the efforts of human and material resources systematically to achieve set goals (Ezeocha, 2011), while management is defined by Peretomode (1996), as a social and interactional process involving a sequence of coordinated events planning, organizing, coordinating and controlling or leading in order to use available resources to achieve a desired goal in the fastest possible way. Administration according to Peretomode (2003), is the component part of the management concerned with facilitating accomplishment of the objectives of an organization like school through the systematic management of constraints and careful utilization of the available limited resources like human, material, finance and so on. Okeke (2014), sees administration as involving the provision and maintenance of the necessary manpower to those who teach children with a view to bring about the desired change in the children’s behaviour.

The college authorities are thus expected to apply inclusive decision-making technique that will enable the participation of all stakeholders in the college in decision-making and the provision of adequate social amenities with the funds provided by government in order to enhance teaching and learning and achievements of set goals (Aluede, 2001). According to Adejuwon and Fatile (2011), evidence from literature reviewed and personal observation revealed that students’ low participation in decision-making in issues that concern their welfare in the management of college and lack of adequate social amenities are causes of students crises in most tertiary institutions. For instance Adejuwon & Fatile, (2011), asserts that there are persistent incidence of students’ crisis and indiscipline in south-south Nigerian colleges, there are reports of students’ disorderliness, chaos, riot, cultism, and boycott of lectures and hooliganism featuring frequently in newspaper daily and there are also reports of students’ violent demonstrations leading to destruction of public and private properties, loss of lives, disruption of classes, untimely closure of schools and disruption of academic calendar as it happen in college of education Gindiri. Aluede, Jimo, Aqwinede & Omoregie, (2005), Explained in a clear term using brutal condour that the impact of this crises are: prolong of academic activities, poor academic performance, poor implementation of the curriculum, examination malpractice and in most cases renders school environment completely insecure for serious academic activities which are never beneficial to staff and the students, the colleges and the society in general.

            On the other hand if students participate in decision-making on issues that concern them in the College management; College would be less chaotic, academic activities would go on uninterrupted, teaching and learning objectives will be properly achieved. Hence, students in the College Community and the public will also benefit from the peaceful and conducive teaching and learning school environment. (Adeyemi 2009 & Esheit, 2004).

            Participation is taking part in the process of formulation an implementation of policies. Students’ participation in decision making on the other hand is involving students in decision-making on issues that concern their welfare (Esheit, 2004). The importance of students’ participation in decision-making cannot be overstressed, when members of an organization participate in decision-making or implementation of programmes, the absorptive capacity of the organization is higher. Participation stimulates the exchange and integration of information, reduce resistance to change and facilitates organizational members commitment to team work (Strassner and Titus in De-Drew and West 2001). Students’ participation in decision-making will give them a sense of belonging, smoothen relationships and prevent conflict of interest in the College. The importance of students’ participation in decision-making according to Chambers (2007) include: the development of skills such as debating, negotiating, group decision-making and influencing decision-making. Participation also enables students to understand how decisions are made and how to contribute to them. Therefore students’ participation in decision-making in the management of tertiary institution will surely enable them to understand how and why decisions are made and help to reduce students’ crises in colleges.

            Suffice it to say that Students’ participation in decision-making of most tertiary institutions can be influenced by the way tertiary institution are governed and the administrative set up in college. In the college system, the administrative set up has the Governing Council, the Senate, and the Provost at the top of the administration. Other Units like Committees, Boards, and Deans of schools, derived their power from the top. The internal administration vest control of power and administration of students and staff in the hands of Committees that are chaired and controlled by the Academics.

            Institutional or educational management on the other hand is the process by which educational policies are considered and adopted and the means for conferring on administration the authority for planning and implementing such policies (Platt in Okeke 2007). The purpose of institutional or educational management is to plan and implement educational policies at the various levels of education (Okeke, 2007). To achieve these objectives, the Colleges need to involve decision-making approach that will involve teaching, non-teaching Staff and Students Union Government in decision-making, so that the interest of all the stakeholders will be protected during decision-making sessions.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

            There are many incidences of students’ crises and indiscipline in Nigerian institutions. There are also reports of students’ disorderliness, chaos, riot, cultism, boycott of lectures and hooliganism featuring frequently in newspapers daily. The consequences of these negative activities include loss of lives, destruction of public and private properties, disruption of academic calendar and academic activities, untimely closures of schools, poor academic performance, and examination malpractice. These situations do not provide conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning activities, implementation of school programs and proper achievement of the College set goals. Observers believe that students’ low participation in administrative decision making in issues that concern their welfare in the management of colleges and lack of adequate social amenities are causes of student crisis. They argued further that students’ high participation in administrative decision making in issues that concern their welfare may help to reduce students’ crisis. The problem of the study is thus: What is the level of student participation in administrative decision making in the management of Federal College of Education Pankshin?

            In contemporary management, participation by people who constitute an organization appears to be a panacea for achieving organizational goals. The position of students’ participation in decision-making on matters that affect their welfare in the management of the college is not clear. It is this non clarity that calls for this study to ascertain whether students participate in administrative decision-making on matters that affect their welfare or not, therefore, called for Students’ participation in decision making within the College. The question is to what extent do students participate in decision-making in the management of Federal College of Education Pankshin? This study is meant to answer this question and proffer solution to the lingering problem of students’ low participation in decision making and its consequences.

1.3 Purpose of the studies.

            The general purpose for the studies is to access the Influence of Students Participation in the Decision Making of Federal College of Education Pankshin on their Academic Performance. Specifically the study seeks to:

1. Identify the ways in which students are represented in the college disciplinary committees.
2. Ascertain the extent to which students participate in formulating rules and regulations on students’ union government.
3. Determine the extent to which students can participate and the challenges in decision-making on internally generated revenue such as tuition fee, accommodation fee, among others.
4. Ascertain the ways in which students participate in the selection of their leaders.

1.4 Research Questions

The following are the research questions for this study:

1. In what ways are students’ represented in the College disciplinary Committee.
2. To what extent do students’ participate in the formulation of rules and regulation on Student Union Government?
3. To what extent do students’ participate in administrative decision-making on internally generated revenue?
4. In what ways do students’ participate in administrative decision making in the selection of student leaders?

1.5 Hypotheses

The following null hypotheses were formulated to guide the study and will be tested at 0.05 level of significance.

Ho1: There is no significant difference between the ways students are represented in the College Disciplinary Committee’s action on Students misconduct.

Ho2: Students participation in administrative decision-making has no significant relationship with internally generated revenue in Federal College of Education, Pankshin

1.6 Significance of the Study

            The findings of this study will be beneficial to students, College Administrators, educational, policy makers, government, the public and researchers.

            Students’ participation in administrative decision-making in the management of the College will enable them to gain the knowledge of participative decision making which is democratic. It will enable students to imbibe democratic principles of patience, endurance, and tolerance and since Nigeria is under party and democratic government, students will have the opportunity to take part favorably in the practice of democracy going on in Nigeria.

            Students will therefore help in explaining to some members of the public the need for political participation. That is taking part in political activities such as: belonging to political party, registration of voters, and voting during election among others. This will go a long way in fast tracking the development and practice of democracy in Nigeria which is universally accepted and globally in vogue.

            Students’ participation in decision-making will help to stop the negatives consequences of students’ crises such as loss of lives, destruction of public and private properties, disruptions of academic calendar, examination malpractice and poor academic performance by students. Therefore there will be peace in the college to enable academic and non-academic activities to go on smoothly.

            It will enable students to know how decisions are made and how to contribute to them. They will also acquire the knowledge of group decision-making that is very democratic and universally accepted and this will enable them to practice participatory decision-making even after school life.

            College administrators will benefit from student participation in decision-making as their democratic approach to administration will be supported and appreciated by all and thus enable the implementation of educational policies and achievement of teaching and learning objectives.

            The study will provide useful information for policy makers on the state of students’ participation in decision-making and will serve as a guide to them in making and implementing policies on students welfare matters. As students involvement in decision-making end students crises and peace returns to tertiary institutions, the government is satisfied that the college is going on uninterrupted.

            The general public will also benefit from the peaceful progressive learning environment because Colleges will become less disruptive and chaotic.

            The study will offer useful sources of information to students who would want to research further into this problem or related problem within or outside Federal College of Education, Pankshin.

            The study will also contributes to learning by providing literature for researchers and developing decision-making theory that is “students’ participation in decision-making theory”.

1.7 Delimitation of the Study

            This study is an investigation into student’s participation in administrative decision-making in the management of Federal College of Education, Pankshin. The content scope of the study cover some dimension which includes, students representation in the College Disciplinary Panels, student participation in the formulation of rules and regulations on Student Union Governments, students participation in decision making on accommodation related matters like, number of students’ per room, increase in accommodation fees among others, students’ participation in decision making on internally generated revenue and students’ participation in decision making in the selection of student union leaders.

1.8 Operational Definition of Terms

Decision-Making: Is the process of choosing from among alternative ways of providing a solution to a problem.

Participation: Is asocial process whereby specific groups with shared needs living in a defined geographical area actively pursue identification of their needs, take decisions and establish mechanisms to meet these needs.

Administrative decision: Is a decision which determines the means to be used in realizing organizational goals.