The Effective Distribution of Teachers into Secondary Schools in Ekiti State , Nigeria : A Critical Analysis

This paper investigated the distribution of teachers to secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. As an ex-post facto and descriptive survey, the study population embraced all the 141 secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria. The sample was identical with the population as all the schools were involved in the study. The instrument used to collect data for the study was an inventory while the data collected were analyzed using percentages. The findings showed that the enrolment growth rate was 5.6% while the teacher–student ratio was 1:30. The supply of qualified teachers did not match the demand for them in secondary schools in the State . It was projected that the State government would require additional 3,585 teachers by the year 2016. Based on the findings, it was recommended that government should recruit more qualified teachers into the schools to meet up with the demand for them. This recruitment should however be along subject lines.


INTRODUCTION
The pattern of distribution of teachers into secondary schools in Ekiti Sate, Nigeria has generated mixed feelings among many educationists (Ige, 2001;Alonge, 2003).Since rural schools form 57% of all secondary schools in the State while urban schools account for the remaining 43% (Ekiti State Ministry of Education, 1996), it seems that the distribution of teachers to the schools has not been done satisfactorily.Common observation in the school system in the State shows that teachers usually prefer to work in urban areas rather than in rural areas.This is perhaps due to the presence of many social amenities and infrastructural facilities in the urban areas.Thus, it seems that the distribution of qualified teachers to secondary schools in the State appears to have brought about some controversy in many quarters.This controversy has been centred on whether or not there are more qualified teachers in urban schools than in rural schools.
The social demand for education has brought about the increase in the enrolment of students in schools (Okunola, 1983, Nwadiani, 2000).This fact was confirmed by researchers (Nwankwo, 1981;Mussazi, 1982;Aghenta 2001) who pointed out that the social demand approach considers education as a service that is demanded by the people just like any other goods or services.Thus, the free education at the primary and secondary school levels was a response to the social demand by the people.The free education has perhaps led to a considerable expansion in students' enrolment in the schools and has created demand for more equitable distribution of teachers to schools (Aghenta, 1980).For instance, the enrolment of students increased from 80, 272 in 1996 to 142,560 in 2006, an increase of 78% while the number of teachers in the schools rose from 3,264 in 1996 to 5,415 during the same period giving an increase of 66% (Ekiti State Ministry of Education, 2006).
The curriculum in secondary schools in the State consists of both science and non-science subjects.Although teachers are available in both fields of study in all the schools in varying proportions, it seems that the state government has not really complied with the National Policy on Education provisions of 40: 60 science and non-science teacher ratio (Federal Republic of Nigeria 2004) in the distribution of qualified teachers into secondary schools.As such, the demand for qualified teachers seems to be higher in science subjects than in non-science subjects.Thus, considering the fact that education consumes a disproportionate share of the State's revenue (Ekiti State Budget, 1997), it might be necessary to examine how teachers were distributed to secondary schools in the State along subject lines.
Many researchers have had different views on the distribution of teachers into schools.Aghenta (1980) for example, examined the staffing position in secondary schools in the former Bendel State of Nigeria and found that over 3,000 qualified teachers were in short supply in secondary schools in the State.Likewise, in Ogun State Nigeria 2,953 qualified teachers were in short supply during the period (Ogun State Government, 1981).In Ondo State, Nigeria Adeyemi (1985) reported that 6,836 qualified teachers were in short supply to secondary schools.This implies that shortages of qualified teachers had been recurring problem in Nigerian schools.
The findings of Adesina (1977) were, however, supported by (Nwadiani, 1996;Fideler and Haselkorn, 1999) who reported that the standards in schools have become difficult to maintain because of the problem of inadequacy of qualified teachers.This argument was supported by the findings of other researchers (Adeyemi 1998;Fabunmi, 2002).Nwagwu (1978) defended the idea of recruiting unqualified teachers to schools and reported that during the time of acute shortage of qualified teachers, the authorities were tempted to overlook quality and were inclined to employ anyone with minimal educational qualifications.Bennett (1972) seemed to agree with Nwagwu (1978) on the presence of unqualified teachers in schools, but he recommended that unqualified teachers should normally not be more than half of the total teaching force in schools.Bennett's (1972) views disagreed with the findings of other researchers (Nwadiani, 1996;Akhaine, 2001) who reported that with the increase in the supply of qualified teachers from the various higher institutions in the country, more qualified teachers should be employed into the schools' system.However, research findings have shown teachers' turnover is always high because many teachers tend to leave the teaching profession if and when more attractive jobs become available in government, politics or private enterprise (Harbison, 1971;Dennison, 1984).Thus teacher turnover is capable of leading to serious teacher shortages in the schools.
In this regard, Dennison (1984) reported a chronic shortage of teachers in Mathematics and Physical Sciences in the UK.He argued that a situation whereby a school is unable to fill a Physics vacancy constitutes a critical level in balancing staffing and curriculum.Supporting the findings, Smithers (1994) argued that the problem of getting teachers for Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics in British schools is in an increasing difficulty.Commenting on the problem, McNamara (1995) argued that until recently, graduates in the UK could enter the teaching profession without any formal training.He reported that it was "only since 1970 (for primary) and 1974 (for secondary) that there has been a compulsory requirement that graduates must be trained before being able to teach in maintained schools.Thus, teachers as key input of a highly-skilled labour resource (Hansen, 1966) and as the hub of the educational system (Ukeje, 1979) are a force to reckon with in the school system.Notwithstanding the importance attached to teachers, it seems that teachers' shortages have been a common feature in schools in many countries (Leibenstein, 1971;Straker 1988;Lowe, 1991). .
Since the number of students to a teacher determines the number of teachers needed in a school, the teacher student ratio is another good determinant in the distribution of teachers to schools.Research findings have shown that a lower teacher-student ratio is ideal for secondary schools in order to maintain standards and improve the quality of education (Oladejo, 1991;Hoover-Dempsey and Sandler, 1997).Towards this end, Adesina (1977) recommended a teacher -students ratio of 1:30 for Nigerian schools.Fagbamiye (1981) and Imoge (1982) suggested a teacher-student ratio of 1:37.In the same vein, the numbers of subjects taught in schools are other determinants of teacher demand in schools (Akangbou, 1987;Darling-Hammond and Dilworth, 1997).The number of subjects taught could perhaps influence the distribution of teachers along subject lines (Fideler and Haselkorn, 1999;Adeyemi, 2004).Thus, considering these shortages of teachers especially in the core subjects of the schools' curriculum, this study intended to examine the distribution of qualified teachers to secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria in order to correct erroneous impressions.

Statement of the Problem:
The decay in the school system in Ekiti State, Nigeria perhaps as a result of the free education policy of the State government and the subsequent rapid increase in the enrolment of students seem to have brought about the demand for more qualified teachers in many schools.Although the State government has taken various measures to recruit more teachers on subject basis into schools, it seems that there has not been an equitable distribution of available teachers along subject lines.A close look at the demand and supply situations of qualified teachers to secondary schools in the State seems to show a disparity.
The addition of new subjects into the curricula of many schools and the introduction of the continuous assessment as a means of evaluating students' performance has led to the demand for more qualified teachers.Although qualified teachers were needed in the science and non-sciences subjects, the demand for qualified teachers appears to be more pronounced in science subjects than in non-science subjects.Considering the rapid expansion in student's enrolment in secondary schools in the State, the lopsidedness in the distribution of qualified teachers into secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria constituted the problem which this study intended to examine.In addressing the problem, the following research questions were raised.

METHODS
The descriptive research design of the survey type and the ex-post facto design were adopted in this study.A descriptive survey is a form of planned collection of data from a large population for the purpose of analyzing the relationships between variables (Oppenheim, 1992).It is also a study that examines a situation as it is without any attempt to manipulate dependent variables (Cressey, 1982).An ex-post facto research, on the other hand, is an after fact or after event research (Gay, 1996).The data needed for the study are already in place in the schools and they do not involve any manipulation of variables.
The study population comprised all the 170 secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria.This population was made up of 97 rural and 73 urban schools.The sample was identical with the population (Moore, 1994) as all the schools were involved in the study.The principals of the secondary schools were the respondents in the study.
The instrument used to collect data for the study was an inventory titled 'secondary schools principals' inventory'.The inventory consisted of two sections.Section A was demographic.It sought information about the name of the schools, year of establishment and the location of the school.Section B sought information on students' enrolment in the schools, number of classes, staffing situation as well as the pattern of distribution of teachers to schools.The content validity of the instrument was determined by experts in educational management who examined each item of the inventory in order to ascertain whether they adequately measured what they were supposed to measure.Their remarks were used as a guide in reviewing the instruments before administering them to the respondents.The completed copies of the instrument were retrieved from the respondents after a period of two weeks.The data collected were analyzed with the use of percentages.

Data Analysis:
Question 1: What is the staff strength of teaching personnel in secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria?
In answering this question, data on the numbers of teachers by qualification and sex were collected from the respondents in the study using the inventory.The data collected were analyzed through the use of percentages.The findings are presented in Table 1.
As shown in Table 1, unqualified teachers that is, teachers without teaching qualification, are in larger numbers in all the years.This is an indication that qualified teachers are in still much needed in the schools.Further analysis shows the percentage of each category of teachers in the schools.The findings are presented in Table 2.
Table 2 shows an even trend in the number of qualified teachers to all the schools.Although unqualified teachers were in various proportion in all the years, the percentage of unqualified graduate teachers without teaching qualification decreased from 30% in 1996 to 9.6% in year 2006.Teachers holding the Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE) qualification had an increasing proportion from 1996 when they accounted for 28.4% of the total number of teachers in the schools to 2006 when they accounted for 51.8% .This suggests that NCE teachers were in great numbers in the schools.
Question 2: What is the enrolment growth rate in secondary schools in the State?
In investigating the enrolment growth rate in secondary schools in the State, data on number of classes in the schools as well as the enrolment figures of students between 1996 and 2007 were collected from the respondents collected using the inventory.In computing the enrolment growth rate, the calculations were based on the increase in schools' enrolment for one year over the previous year's enrolment using the following formula (Adeyemi, 2004) Where En = The Enrolment growth; Et = The Enrolment in year t (present year); Et -1 = The Enrolment in year t -1 (present year).Table 3 shows the findings In Table 3, students' enrolment was 91,450 in 1996 when the State was created.The enrolment rose to 156,537 by year 2006 (an increase of 71.1%).The enrolment growth was 16.9% in 1997.It declined to 5.3% in 1998 and 2.1% in 1999.Although there was a rise in the enrolment growth rate in 2001, the growth rate further declined considerably to 3.7% in 2005 and 2.4% in 2006.On the average, the annual enrolment growth rate in the schools was 5.6%.
Question 3: What is the average class-size and teacher-student ratio in secondary schools in the State?
In determining the average class-size in secondary schools in the State, data on students' enrolment in the schools were collected from the respondents using the inventory.Data on the number of classes in the schools were also collected.Average class-size was computed by dividing the total number of students in a school by the number of classes in that school.This was done using the following formula (Adeyemi, 2004).
Where Cs = Average class size, Ns = Total Number of Students; NC = Total number of classes.The findings are presented in Table 4.
In Table 4, the number of classes in the schools varied from one year to another.The class-size ranged between 29 and 32 while the average class-size for all the years was 30.
Where Ts = Teacher-student Ratio; Ns = Total number of students; Nt= Total number of teachers.On the basis of this formula, the teacher -student ratio in the secondary schools in the State in all the years are indicated in Table 5.
As indicated in Table 5, the teacher-pupil ratio varied from year to year in primary and junior secondary schools in the State.The average teacher-pupil ratio in primary and junior secondary schools was 1:30.
Question 4: What is the pattern of distribution of qualified teachers into urban and rural secondary schools in the State?
In answering the problem data on the distribution of teachers to urban and rural secondary schools in the State was collected using the inventory.Data on the number of qualified and unqualified teachers were also collected.The proportion of the number of teachers in urban and rural schools was determined using percentages.The findings are presented in Table 6.
As indicated in Fig. 1, the graph showed a lopsided trend in the distribution of teachers therefore depicting an imbalance in the pattern of distribution between urban and rural schools.The imbalance in the distribution of teachers was very glaring in each of the years.In a situation whereby all the teachers in urban and rural schools should be qualified teachers, the presence of unqualified teachers in high proportions shows that there was a disparity in the distribution of qualified teachers to the schools.This suggests that not much effort has been made in the distribution of qualified teachers into secondary schools in the State.
Question 5: What is the pattern of distribution of qualified teachers on subject basis to secondary schools in the State?
In determining the pattern of distribution of qualified teachers on subject basis to secondary schools in the State, data on the number of schools having specified number of teachers per subject were collected through the inventory for the year 2006.The findings are presented in Table 7.
In Table 7, a large proportion of the schools had two or less than two teachers in subjects like English Language, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, History and Accounts.A large number of the schools had 3 to 4 teachers in virtually all the subjects.For example, 31 schools had 3 to 4 teachers in English Language, 41 schools in Mathematics, 38 schools in Physics, 34 schools in Chemistry, 42 schools in Biology, 43 schools in Agric Science, 51 schools in Economics, 82 schools in Geography, 54 schools in History and 43 schools in Accounts.Almost all the schools did not have more than 8 teachers in each of the subjects except Biology, Economics and Geography.This implies that there was shortage in the number of qualified teachers to the schools on subject basis.
Question 6: How does the distribution of qualified Science teachers compare with the distribution of nonscience teachers in secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria?
In answering this question, data on the distribution of teachers on the basis of science and non-science subjects were collected from the respondents using the inventory.The data were analyzed with the use of percentages.The findings showing the ratio of all science teachers to nonscience teachers in all the schools are presented in Table 8.
As shown in Table 8, the distribution of teachers favoured non-science subjects than science subjects.The trend in the distribution was almost the same in all the years.There was no year where the ratio of science teachers to non-science teachers was 40: 60 as enunciated in the Nigerian National Policy of Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004).On the average, the ratio of science teachers to non-science found in all the years was 32:68.Fig. 2 shows the graph depicting the trend in the distribution of science and non-science teachers in the schools.
In Table 8, there was a sharp difference between the distribution of qualified science and non-science teachers to secondary schools in the state.The difference is unprecedented in all the years examined.Table 9 shows the distribution of qualified and unqualified science and non-science teachers to the schools.
In Table 9, the findings revealed that there was a shortfall in the number of qualified science teachers in secondary schools in the State.The pattern of distribution of these teachers was also found to be lopsided.In 1996, for example, the percentage of qualified science teachers    -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------No % No % Fige 3: Graph showing the distribution of qualified and unqualified science and non-science teachers in secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria was only 18.7% while that of unqualified science teachers was 13.4%.In year 2006, the percentage of qualified science teachers was just 26.0% while that of unqualified science teachers was 5.0%.Conversely, the percentage of qualified non-science teachers was 47.2% in 1996 while that of unqualified non-science teachers was 20.7%.In year 2006, the percentage of qualified non-science teachers was 61.2% while that of unqualified non-science teachers was 7.8%.Fig. 3 shows the graph depicting the trend in the distribution of the teachers.In Fig. 3, the graph shows and uneven trend in the distribution of science and non-science teachers to schools.The trend also shows a wide difference between the distribution of qualified science and non-science teachers to schools.The distribution of unqualified science and non-science teachers was almost the same.The graph shows that qualified science teachers were in small numbers in the schools compared to non-science teachers.The finding suggests that there had not been an equitable distribution of teachers to secondary schools in the State.

DISCUSSION
In the forgoing, the analysis of data in respect of the distribution of teachers to secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria was made.The tremendous growth in students' enrolment found in this study had serious impact on teacher availability in the schools.Unqualified teachers were found to be in large numbers in all the years.This is an indication that qualified teachers are in short supply to schools.Further analysis shows that teachers holding the Nigeria Certificate of Education (NCE) qualification had an increasing proportion from 1996 when they accounted for 28.4% of the total number of teachers in the schools to 2006 when they accounted for 51.8% .This implies that NCE teachers were still in great numbers in the schools.This finding was consistent with those of previous researchers (Nwadiani, 1996;Obaji, 2006)).Students' enrolment rose from 91,450 in 1996 when the State was created to 156,537 by year 2006 (an increase of 71.1%).However, the annual enrolment growth rate in the schools was 5.6% found in this study was contrary with those of other researchers (Adeyemi, 1985;Nwadiani, 1996).
The findings indicating that the class-size in the schools ranged between 29 and 32 for all the years while the average class-size for all the years was 30 was consistent with the findings made by Adesina (1982) who found similar class-size in secondary schools in Ogun State, Nigeria.The findings also agreed with findings made by Adeyemi, (2004) in a related study in Ondo State, Nigeria.In the same vein, the findings indicating that the average teacher-pupil ratio in primary and junior secondary schools was 1:30 was supported by the findings in other previous studies (Chapman1994 ;Bradley, 1999).
The findings indicating that the number of teachers in urban schools was greater than the number in rural schools in each of the years of study agreed with the findings of previous researchers (Jack, 1983;Akangbou, 1987;Fideler and Haselkorn, 1999).In a situation whereby all the teachers in urban and rural schools should be qualified teachers, the presence of unqualified teachers in high proportions implies that there was a disparity in the distribution of qualified teachers to schools in the State.This finding agreed with those of other researchers (Islas;Murray;Hirsch;Luczak, 2006).This suggests that not much effort has been made in the distribution of qualified teachers to secondary schools in the State.The finding indicating that a large number of schools had two or less than two teachers in core subjects of the school curriculum such as English Language, Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry show the high rate of shortages of qualified teachers in secondary schools in the State.
The findings of the study indicating that the distribution of teachers favoured non-science subjects more than science subjects imply that qualified science teachers were in serious shortage in the schools.The ratio of qualified science teachers to qualified non-science found in this study ranging between 38: 62 and 39: 61 was contrary to the 40: 60 ratio of science to non-science teachers recommended by the National Policy on Education (Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2004).
On the whole, the findings revealing the shortages of qualified science teachers in secondary schools in the State agreed with the findings of other researchers (Straker, 1988;Lowe, 1991;McNamara, 1995).The fact that there were more teachers in urban schools than in rural schools is an indication of lopsidedness in the distribution of teachers to schools.This finding agreed with the findings in previous studies (Psacharopoulos and Woodhall, 1985;Chapman, 1994;Ijaiya, 1998;Fideler Haselkorn, 1999;Onoja, 2005).This suggests that State government had not been paying much attention to the equitable distribution of teachers to schools.

CONCLUSION
Considering the findings of this study, it was concluded that there had been a lopsided distribution of teachers to secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria, the increase in the enrolment growth rate of students has led the researcher to conclude that qualified teachers had not been equitably and effectively distributed into secondary schools in the State.The lopsided distribution of teachers favoured urban schools at the expense of rural schools.It also favoured non-science subjects at the expense of science subjects at this time when the orientation of the Federal Government of Nigeria is towards the development of science and technology in schools.It was therefore concluded that, the effective distribution of teachers has not taking place in secondary schools in the State.

Implications for Planning:
The increase in the enrolment growth rate of students has created much demand for the recruitment of more quailfied teachers to secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria.The considerable shortfall in the number of qualified teachers as revealed in this study implies that effective teaching `might not have been taken place in most of the schools.The shortage of qualified science teachers as revealed in this study made the offering of science subjects by students unpopular in many schools especially in the rural areas.This implies that many students would tend to rush to offering nonscience subjects at the expense of science subjects.As a result, there was the tendency of not ensuring equal educational opportunities for all students to offer science subjects alongside with non-science subjects in schools.This situation could seriously jeopardize the good intention of government in its bid to orientate its development towards science and technology as stipulated in the National Policy on Education.

RECOMMENDATIONS
Based on the findings, it was recommended that the State government should make it mandatory on any teacher not to refuse posting to any part of the State, whether urban or rural.This is to correct the disparity in the distribution of qualified teachers between urban and rural schools.In these days when the orientation in this country is towards science and technology, government should make it a matter of policy to post qualified science teachers to all schools in the State equitably irrespective of the location of the schools.This would enable every student to have equal opportunity of offering science subjects in schools.Rural allowance should be paid to all teachers posted to rural areas while science allowance should also be paid to all qualified science teachers in order to encourage science teachers to stay on the job.

Fig 1 :
Fig 1: Graph showing the Trend in the distribution of Teachers into urban and rural secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Table 1 :
Number of Teachers By Qualification and Sex in Secondary Schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria (1996 to 2006)

Table 2 :
Percentage of Qualified and Unqualified Teachers in Secondary Schools in Ekiti State,Nigeria (1996Nigeria (  to 2006)  )

Table 3 :
En rolment G row th Rate in Second ary Schoo ls in Ek iti State, Nigeria

Table 4 :
Average Class-size in Secondary Schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria

Table 5 :
Teacher -Student Ratio in the Second ary Schoo ls in Ek iti State, N igeria

Table 6 :
Pattern of D istribution of Qualified T eachers into U rban and R ural Secondary S choo ls in Ek iti State, Nigeria Urb an Schoo ls Rural Schools -

Table 7 :
Distribution of Teachers to Secondary Schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria by School and by Subject Num ber of teachers in post Number of S choo ls

Table 8 :
Pattern of d istribution of scien ce and non-science teachers to secondary schools in Ekiti State, Nigeria