Title:
DONATION OF SCIENCE EQUIPMENT BY NIGERIA’S NIGER DELTA DEVELOPMENT COMMISSION TO SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN THE REGION: A HELP OR DAUNTING HUDDLE FOR TEACHERS

Authors:
P.C. Agommuoh, E.O. Onwukwe and C. U. Nwachukwu

Abstract:
This study utilized the opportunity offered by the donation of science equipment to secondary schools in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria by the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to examine the experiences and observations of the end users of such equipment; science students, science teachers as well as the school administrators, on whether or not the science teachers faced challenges putting the equipment to use in laboratory settings while teaching the students. The study involved 42 out of the 50 befitting secondary schools spread across the nine states of the federation that constitute the Niger Delta Region. The respondents were randomly selected from sampled schools according to the proportions of male and males in the sub-groups (students, teachers and principals) this gave a sample size of 1,050 made up of 592 males and 458 females. The design was a survey. Literature review of wide coverage was undertaking. The instrument was a Liker scale with items specific to the research questions. Three research questions guided the study and three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. Rigorous data analysis was carried out using percentages and arithmetic means to address the research questions. To test the hypotheses, t-test statistics was employed. The findings of this study show that there is an overall positive acknowledgement by students, teachers and school principals, irrespective of gender, that science teachers in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria faced identifiable challenges with using the NDDC-donated science equipment to teach science in their secondary schools and gender was of no significant effect on the opinions expressed. In conclusion therefore, Science teachers in Niger Delta Region of Nigeria whose schools benefited from the donation of science equipment by Niger Delta Development Commission, NDDC, were having challenges in putting the equipment to use in teaching science subjects. Appropriate mitigation strategies were recommended to ameliorate the perceived challenges, including training of teachers in readiness prior to supplying new science equipment to schools, on instrument calibration after the supplies. Deployment of supportive laboratory technical staff to all science schools were also recommended among others.

Keywords:
Education, Science Education, Laboratory, Niger Delta Development Commission and Science Teachers

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.37500/IJESSR.2025.8220

Date of Publication: 08-04-2025