Implementation of Nigerian Government’s Information and Communication Technology Policy on Education in Cross River State Secondary Schools

Abstract

This study was executed to assess the extent of implementation of ICT education in Cross River State secondary schools. The survey research design was adopted in carrying out the investigation. A sample of 40 secondary schools comprising urban and rural as well as private and public secondary schools was drawn from all the secondary schools in the state. The data for the study were collected using questionnaires and documentary analysis. Those instruments were validated by two lecturers in computer science and one expert in educational measurement and evaluation at the Federal College of Education, Obudu. The reliability coefficients of the students’ questionnaire and the Principals’ checklist, are .78, .98 respectively. The obtained data were analysed descriptively using simple percentage. The result of the study showed among other things that computer science is not taught in every secondary school in the state; there are no serious measures taken by the state government to ensure the availability of up-to-date computers in the secondary schools in the state; and that most of the students in their ultimate and penultimate years of study in the secondary schools have not yet acquired most of the skills expected of students offering computer science at the secondary school level. The study concluded with the remark that the level of implementation of ICT education in the state is very low. It was therefore recommended inter -alia that the present status of computer science as an elective subject should be changed to a compulsory status at both the junior and senior secondary school levels and that government at all levels should devote a certain percentage of their education budget to the purchase of ICT tools/accessories.