A COMPARATIVE STUDY AND ANALYSIS OF VOLUNTARY POST-PRIMARY INSTITUTIONS IN ADAMAWA AND TARABA STATES BEFORE AND AFTER THE GOVERNMENT TAKE-OVER

 The establishment of schools by the Mission Voluntary Agencies was to meet specific needs which included converting people to the Christian faith and also training people who would work for the Missionaries. The Mission Voluntary Agencies were the pioneers of Western Education in Nigeria. However, the Federal Government saw it as a matter of necessity to handle all issues concerning Education in the country. As a result, all post primary institutions were taken over by the government. This study was undertaken to compare and analyse the Voluntary Agencies post-primary institutions in Adamawa and Taraba States before and after the take over Four research questions and five hypotheses for this study were related to the various opinions of the general public on the effects of the take-over in these schools studied. The sample covered a total of eleven principals, twenty-two vice principals, sixty-seven academic staff, one hundred parents and fifty people from the general public, all totalling two hundred and fifty respondents.

The major statistical techniques used in analysing the data were Chi-Square (X ), and percentage. The results showed that people associated the causes of fallen standard of education to the take-over of schools. That discipline has drastically deteriorated in these schools and the schools were too many for the governments to run effectively in terms of enough or sufficient financial support, enough infrastructure, classroom facilities, laboratories and equipped libraries. Revelations in this study, hopefully would be an eye opener for those concerned with the post-primary schools, management Boards and the State Ministries of Education who are the custodians of education in the States.