A STUDY ON THE UNIT COST OF EDUCATION ON STUDENTS ENROLMENT RATES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGEIA

A STUDY ON THE UNIT COST OF EDUCATION ON STUDENTS ENROLMENT RATES IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN NIGEIA

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

 

The economics of education asserts that investment in education has a long gestation period before its returns are received by investors (Mingat and Tan, 1996, Manda, Mwabu and Kimenyi, 2002 and Gropello, 2006). It is against this background that education is viewed as the root source of human, social, cultural, and economic progress. Education is also perceived as legitimate determinant of well-being in terms of both individual and collective goods, resulting into rapid growth at both national and global levels (Meyer, Ramirez, Frank, and Schofer, 2005).

 

Since education is viewed as an investment, governments of various countries, societies and individuals have been concerned with how to finance it. The process of education financing has been dogged with complexities because it is done at pre-school level, primary level, secondary level and tertiary level. Scholars have been attempting to come up with methods of establishing the average cost of education per student with the aim of easing the complexities of education financing. For instance, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, (OECD, 2011) asserted that the average cost of education per student can be calculated by dividing the total expenditure by educational institutions at that level by the corresponding full-time equivalent enrolment. This is in line with Delmonico (2001) who also calculated the average cost of education per student by dividing public spending on education by the number of students,

 

 

expressing the number as a percentage of GNP per capita. The same formula was applied by United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO 2011) to calculate the average cost of education per student in Sub- Saharan countries including Kenya. However, the UNESCO (2011) formula was applied in calculating the average cost of education per student in primary schools and excluded other levels of education like secondary school as well as the private cost of education.

 

On the private cost, Mikiko, Takashi and Yuichi (2005), calculated the average cost of education per student for children in Uganda by focusing on what the household spends on education. This method also avoided inclusion of the government expenditure in calculating the average cost of education per student.

In Nigeria , the cost of education is met by the government and household members.

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