State of facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work trade in technical colleges in Bauchi State, Nigeria

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1 Vol. 5(5), pp , November, 2013 DOI: /IJVTE Academic Journals International Journal of Vocational and Technical Education Full Length Research Paper State of facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work trade in technical colleges in Bauchi State, Nigeria Hassan Bello* and Babawuro Shu aibu Vocational and Technology Education Programme, Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi, Nigeria. Accepted 18 October, 2013 It is a known fact that a technical teacher cannot teach effectively without functional tools, equipment and machines. The environment in which the teaching/learning takes place must be conducive. This study was carried out to assess the state of facilities available for teaching Electrical Installation and Maintenance Work Trade (EIMWT) in Bauchi State Technical Colleges. The design of the study consists of a descriptive survey. Three technical colleges were selected using stratified random sampling technique, one each from the three senatorial districts of Bauchi State (north, south and central) to serve as the sample for the study. The data collected using structured questionnaire and a checklist, were analyzed using frequency and simple percentage. Some of the findings of the study were that most of the facilities (tools, equipment and machines) in the workshops of the colleges are not functional. A poor maintenance culture on the side of the workshop technicians was also recorded. It was therefore, recommended that, all the broken down implements including the obsolete ones be repaired and/or replaced to promote effective skills acquisition and training in all the colleges. Also, modern workshop facilities should be procured. Special orientation on the operation and maintenance of the procured Workshop facilities should be organized as at when due to update the Instructors and the Workshop technicians about proper handling of the facilities. Donor agencies such as PTA, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc, should be encouraged to assist in equipping these modern facilities for necessary training to take place thereby, resolving the funding difficulty faced by the Vocational and Technical Colleges in the state to an extent. Key words: Electrical installation, facilities and technical colleges. INTRODUCTION Teaching is an interaction that exists between a teacher and learner(s) in a given context (classroom/workshop). A technical teacher cannot teach effectively without the use of functional, required tools, equipment and machines in the workshop. The environment in which the teaching/learning would take place must also be conducive. Puyate (2004) pointed out that effective vocational and technical training would not be possible without adequate arrangements for the provision of required instructional facilities. This indicated that the availability and effective utilization of facilities for training in any technical college enhances the vital process of the skills to be acquired. Effective training also empowers trainees/students to be productive and contribute positively to the development of every nation. Inadequate facilities for teaching/learning technical trades have been *Corresponding author. Hassanbello2005@yahoo.com, bbwuro@yahoo.com. Tel: +234(0) ,

2 Bello and Shu aibu 83 observed by a number of scholars/researchers in technical and vocational education: some of them noted the gross inadequacy, unavailability and non functional state of the facilities (Okorie, and Ezeji, 1998; Bassey, 2000) respectively. Others observed the out dated nature of the installed machines and the lack of proper maintenance culture to promote life expectancy of the workshop facilities (Puyate, 2004; Bello, 2004). This could however be attributed to the fact that most of the essential tools, equipment and the heavy machines used for instructional purposes in technical colleges are imported product and consequently apart from being scarce are certainly very expensive. Technical and vocational education facilities in this study involve all the infrastructural and physical facilities in the workshops, laboratories, studios,. This includes all the tools, equipment, machines, and the consumable materials that are being used from time to time for teaching/learning the trade. These facilities are required to be available, adequate and functional in order to satisfy the needs of the curriculum. While these needs cannot be over emphasized for effective teaching/learning to take place, Chado (2004) observed that many institutions that are offering technical and vocational education programs in Nigeria are experiencing gross inadequacy of facilities for teaching/learning and those that are available are either outdated, broken down or out of use due to one reason or the other. Some of these reasons are attributed to lack of consumable materials and electricity supply for operating the machines and equipment. In a similar vein, Emah (2005) observed that the expendable materials required to be used together with the equipment and machines for practices and for carrying out students project in technical and vocational programmes are lacking in schools thereby denying students and teachers the opportunity to use the facilities as at when due. The global trends in teaching and learning of technical and vocational education now requires the use of computers and other related communication facilities which are not available in adequate quantity and quality for use by the teachers, administrators and the students in most Nigerian schools. This non availability and/or inadequacy of appropriate facilities have restricted technical and vocational education teachers from meeting the desired goals of the educational system. in preparing students to become self reliant operate using damage, obsolete tools, equipment and machineries coupled with inadequate qualified teachers, inadequate funding, poor maintenance culture, etc,. This poor state of facilities negatively impacted skills acquisition and competencies of the students. The adverse effect is the production of half baked engineers, technicians, craftsmen, and vocational and technical education teachers (Oluteju, 2007). The present study, therefore, intends to assess the state of facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi state's technical colleges. This is an attempt to offer useful suggestions that would help in curtailing the menace. Purpose of the study Specifically, the study would: 1. Determine the availability of facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi state's technical colleges. 2. Determine the functionality of the available facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi state's technical colleges. 3. Identify the criteria for the provision of facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in the Bauchi state's technical colleges. Research questions The following research questions were formulated to guide the study: 1. What are the facilities available for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work trade (EIMWT) in Bauchi state's technical colleges? 2. What is the level of functionality of the facilities (tools, equipment and machines) for the teaching of electrical installation and maintenance work trade (EIMWT) in Bauchi state's technical colleges? 3. What are the criteria for the provision of workshop facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi state's technical colleges? Statement of the problem Efforts made by successive governments in the past to promote technical education such that teachers could impart the necessary skills to learners without much difficulty have been crippled by lack of necessary courage on the part of the leadership to back up words with action. Most vocational/technical institutions involved METHODOLOGY Descriptive survey design was employed in this research. The study described the current position of the facilities for teaching/learning of electrical installation and maintenance work trade in Bauchi State's technical colleges. Bauchi is a state located in the northeastern sub-region of Nigeria. All the eight technical colleges with a total of 32 staff in the electrical department constituted the target population. Three technical colleges were sampled using stratified

3 84 Int. J. Voc. Tech. Educ. random sampling technique, i.e., one technical college was selected from each of the three senatorial districts (Bauchi north, Bauchi south, and Bauchi central senatorial districts). A total of 15 teachers (i.e., five from each college) of electrical installation and maintenance work were selected at random from the three technical colleges form the study sample. A checklist obtained from the National Board for Technical Education (NBTE, 2007) minimum standard and a structured questionnaire developed by the researcher were used for the data collection. Copies of the questionnaire were face validated by four experts (two from the vocational and technology education programme of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University Bauchi and the other two from the Bauchi state Ministry of Education) prior to the administration. In order to determine the stability (reliability) of the instrument the validated version of the questionnaire was pilot tested on a sample of 6 technical teachers (volunteers) that have the same characteristics but were not involved in the main study in Gombe metropolis. Pearson product moment correlation using testretest method in two weeks interval was used. The value obtained was According to Grunlund (1985), teacher made test commonly has reliabilities between 0.6 and 0.9. Thus, the instrument was considered reliable. The data collected for study were then analyzed using frequency distribution and simple percentage to answer the research questions. While the checklist used was to obtain information from the three Heads of Departments concerning the availability of the electrical installation equipment in the workshops of the chosen colleges, the questionnaire items were to gather the opinion of teachers regarding the teaching and supply of workshop facilities in the colleges. RESULTS The result is presented in order of the research questions as follows. Research question 1 What are the facilities available for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi state technical colleges? This research question was answered using a 50 item checklist and thus presented in Tables 1, 2, and 3: Table 1 shows that out of the 50 items on the checklists, 21(42 %) of the items are inadequate while 29 (58 %) of the items are adequate. The table further indicates that some of the facilities such as wiring board, measuring tapes and energy meter exceeds the minimum quantity required while, tools such as hacksaw was having a shortfall of 5(10 %) pieces. This shows that in school A the facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work trade are not all that adequate for effective teaching to take place. Table 2 shows that out of the 50 items on the checklist, 23 (46 %) of the items are inadequate while the remaining 27 (54 %) of the items are adequate. The table further indicates that facilities such as voltmeter, ohmmeter, spirit level, screwdriver, soldering iron and soldering bits are available enough. It can also be observed from the table that tools and equipment such as reamers, extractors, spanner, energy meter, safety equipment and ladder are not available at all. It can thus be concluded that few facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work trade are available to some extent though not all that adequate in school B. Table 3 shows that out of the 50 items on the checklist, about 22 (44 %) of the items are inadequate, while the remaining 28 (56 %) of the items are adequate. It can further be deduced from the table that tools like spanners, mallet, pliers, measuring tapes and steel rule are available in number more than the required quantity. Tools and equipment such as tester, reamers, extractors, drills, stripper, growlers, energy meter, safety equipment, blow lamps and conduit bending tools are not available in college C. To sum it all, information from Table 1-3 indicated that facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work trade in Bauchi State technical colleges are not adequately available as stated in the NBTE (2007) minimum standard. Research question 2 What is the level of functionality of the facilities (tools, equipment and machines) for the teaching of electrical installation and maintenance work trade in Bauchi State technical colleges? Table 4 shows that 66.6% of the respondents in item 1 have agreed that supply of materials for workshop activities and teaching is regular while 33.3% of them disagreed. In item 2, 60% of the respondents disagreed that supply of the tools, equipment and machines in the installation workshops is regular while, the remaining 40% of the respondents have agreed with the view. In item 3, 66.6% of the respondents disagreed that most of the tools and equipment in the installation workshops are faulty. While, 33.3% of the respondents agreed with the view. Similarly, in item 4, 60% of the respondents have disagreed with the view that damage tools, equipment or machines are repaired or replace while, 40% of the respondents agreed with the view. In item 5, 60% of the respondents agreed with the pact that most of the technicians in the workshops are not competent enough to carry out maintenance on the available facilities while, 40% of them have disagreed. In item 6, 53.3% of the respondents have agreed that most of the college workshops do not have the technicians to carry out maintenance regularly and the remaining 46.7% disagreed with the view. The analysis above indicated that supply of materials for workshop activities and teaching is regular; supply of the tools, equipment and machines in the installation workshops is not regular; most of the tools and

4 Bello and Shu aibu 85 Table 1. Available facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in college A. S/N Tools, equipment and machines MIN. QTY QTY available QTY function Remarks Adequate 1 Work bench Crowbar Conduit bending Stock and dies Conduit vice Clamp Wiring board Ladder Scaffolding Blow lamp Pot and ladle Goggle Soldering iron Soldering bit Welding/brazing.equip Hand gloves First aid box Heater (oven) Boots Helmets Safety belt Overall uniform Volt meter Ammeter Techno meter Energy meter Steel rule Ohm meter Spirit level Micrometer Growler Measuring tapes Screw driver Allen keys Strippers Pliers Cutters Hacksaw Mallet Spanner Files Chisel Tapes Drills Reamers Extractors Knives 5-14 Inadequate

5 86 Int. J. Voc. Tech. Educ. Table 1. Contd. 48 Meger Tester Voltage tester Hammer TOTAL 29 (58 %) 21(42 %) Table 2. Available facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in College B. S/N Tools, equipment and machines MIN. QTY QTY AVAI QTY FUNCT Remarks Adequate 1 Work bench Crowbar Conduit bending Stock and dies Conduit vice Clamp Wiring board Ladder Scaffolding Blow lamp Pot and ladle Goggle Soldering iron Soldering bit Welding & brazing equipment Hand gloves First aid box Heater (oven) Boots Helmets Safety belt Overall uniform Volt meter Ammeter Techno meter Energy meter Steel rule Ohm meter Spirit level Micrometer Growler Measuring tapes Screw driver Allen keys Strippers Pliers Cutters Hacksaw Inadequate

6 Bello and Shu aibu 87 Table 2. Contd. 39 Mallet Spanner Files Chisel Tapes Drills Reamers Extractors Knives Meager Voltage tester Hammer (54 %) 23 (46 %) Table 3. Available facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in College C. S/N Tools, equipment and machines MIN. QTY QTY AVAIL QTY FUNCT Remarks Adequate 1 Work bench Crowbar Conduit bending tools Stock and dies Conduit vice Clamp Wiring board Ladder Scaffolding Blow lamp Pot and ladle Goggle Soldering iron Soldering bit Welding & brazing.equip Hand gloves First aid box Heater (oven) Boots Helmets Safety belt Overall uniform Volt meter Ammeter Techno meter Energy meter Steel rule Ohm meter Spirit level Inadequate

7 88 Int. J. Voc. Tech. Educ. Table 3. Contd. 30 Micrometer Growler Measuring tapes Screw driver Allen keys Strippers Pliers Cutters Hacksaw Mallet Spanner Files Chisel Tapes Drills Reamers Extractors Knives Megger tester Voltage tester Hammer (56 %) 22 (44 %) Table 4. Level of functionality of the facilities (tools, equipment and machines) in Bauchi State technical colleges. S/N Item Frequency of Percentage responses responses A D A D Regular supply of equipment and materials for both workshop activities and teaching is maintained The supply of equipment and materials for both teaching and practical is not regular Most of the tools and equipment in the installation Workshops are faulty When the available equipment, machines or tools got damaged, they are repaired or replaced with new ones. Most of the technicians are not competent in handling the facilities in the workshops of 6 Most of the colleges workshops don t have the technicians To carry out maintenance regularly equipment in the installation workshops are faulty; damage tools, equipment or machines are not repaired or replaced regularly; most of the technicians in the workshops are not competent enough to carry out maintenance in the available facilities; and most of the colleges workshop do not have the technicians to carry out maintenance regularly. Research question 3 What are the criteria for the provision of facilities for

8 Bello and Shu aibu 89 Table 5. Frequency and percentage responses of the criteria for the provision of facilities in Bauchi State technical colleges. S/N Item The facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are supplied by Bauchi State Government Most of the facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are donated by Parent Teachers Association (PTA) Most of the facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are donated by donor agencies. Most of the facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are provided by the students during registration. Most of the facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are Improvised by the teachers taking the course. The facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are supplied by the federal government of Nigeria The facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are provided by the local government Members of the community do not contribute in the provision of teaching facilities in teaching electrical installation and maintenance work Teachers are involved in the planning and purchasing of facilities for teaching electrical Installation and maintenance work. The facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are supplied by the Ministry of Science and Technology request Frequency of Percentage responses responses A D A D of teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi State technical colleges? To answer this research question a structured questionnaire was used. The result is presented as shown in Table 5. From Table 5, in item 1, 93.3% of the respondents agreed that facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work trade (EIMWT) are provided by Bauchi State Government while 6.7% disagreed with the statement. The same percentage (6.7%) of respondents that earlier disagreed with item 1 have agreed with item 2 and vice versa. None of the respondents agreed with item 3 that facilities for teaching EIMWT are donated by donor agencies. Respondents to the tune of 40% have agreed with item 4, stating that students provide such facilities during registration, but up to 60% felt otherwise. In items 5 and 6, 53.3% of the respondents agreed that facilities are either improvised by the teachers taking the trade or being supplied by the school authorities, while 46.7% disagreed with the statements. In item 7, 20% of the respondents agreed that the facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work are provided by other non governmental authorities while 80% disagreed with the statement. An appreciable number of respondents 86.7% felt that communities where these technical colleges are located do not contribute to the supply of workshop facilities. In item 9, 53.3% of the respondents agreed that teachers are involved in the planning and purchasing of the facilities, while 46.7% disagreed. In item 10, 80% of the respondents agreed that the workshop facilities are supplied by the Ministry of Science and Technology while 20% of them disagreed. From the views of the respondents above, it can be concluded that most of the facilities for teaching EIMWT in Technical Colleges are supplied by the authorities of Bauchi State Government. MAJOR FINDINGS The major findings are as follows: 1. The most needed workshop facilities for teaching

9 90 Int. J. Voc. Tech. Educ. electrical installation and maintenance work are not adequately available in the Technical Colleges of Bauchi State. 2. Some of the needed workshop facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi State Technical Colleges are not functioning. 3. Most of the workshop facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in the technical colleges are supplied by the Bauchi State educational authorities. DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS Based on the findings of the study; facilities for teaching EIMWT are not adequately available for teaching in Bauchi State Technical Colleges. The availability of teaching facilities enhances acquisition of qualitative education. Adeboyeji (1994) believes that the quality of education that our children receive is directly related to the availability or the lack of teaching facilities and the atmosphere in which the learning takes place. Similarly, Adigun (1994) noted that instructional facilities and education goals should be viewed as being closely interwoven and interdependent. The two have impact on the comfort, safety and performance of the students in any educational set up. Most of the needed facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi State Technical Colleges are not functioning well. It should be noted that there is no skill training that can be successfully achieved without functional instructional facilities to provide the required hands-on/practical exposure. This was rightly observed by Chado (2004) and clearly cited in the literature reviewed that many institutions offering technical and vocational education programmes in Nigeria are experiencing gross inadequacy of facilities for teaching and learning and those that are available are either outdated, broken down or out of use due to other related problems. Lastly, it was also discovered in the study that most of the facilities for teaching electrical installation and maintenance work in Bauchi State Technical Colleges are supplied by the State Government. Thus, in order to achieve the goals of technical and vocational education, the provision of needed training facilities should not be the responsibility of only the State Government alone, other Non Governmental Agencies should be encouraged to assist in providing modern facilities for the necessary training to take place. There are consensus opinions that provision of efficient school facilities and maintenance require maximum cooperation and hard work from a combined effort of Education authorities, technical schools board, the school principal, and the teachers (Adeboyeje 2000). Conclusion Based on the findings of this study, it was therefore concluded that most of the needed workshop facilities for teaching EIMWT that are available, are to some extent inadequate and not all of them are fully functional in the Technical Colleges. Thus, these inadequacies could hinder the achievement of the objectives of the education. The inability of the state government to adequately supply the needed facilities may not be unconnected with the corrupt practices and non-chalant attitude of some of the administrators/teachers in the affected colleges. It becomes imperative therefore, that workshop facilities be made available and in adequate quantity for these colleges to make appropriate impact toward contribution to national development. RECOMMENDATIONS Based on the findings of the study, the following recommendations are made: i. All the technical colleges in the area of the study should be adequately equipped with the needed facilities. These facilities should be up-to-date in both quantity and quality for effective teaching/learning to take place. All broken down/obsolete facilities in the workshops should be repaired wherever necessary or replaced with new ones for the technical and vocational colleges to become centres of excellence. More so, additional colleges should be built to cater to the needs of students aspiring to make technical education a career. ii. Special orientation on the operation on maintenance of the supplied Workshop facilities should be organized on regular basis to the Instructors and the technicians on maintenance culture as this would help minimize wastage. iii. Donor agencies such as PTA, UNDP, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc, should be encouraged to assist in the provision of these modern facilities for necessary training to take place and minimizing the funding difficulty of the Vocational and Technical Education in the state. iv. Government through the Bauchi State Ministry of Education should ensure proper supervision of instruction in all the technical and vocational colleges as this would help ensure the achievement of stated objectives. REFERENCES Adeboyeje RA (1994). Management of School Facilities. Ibadan: Fountain Publications. Adeboyeje RA (2000). A Practical Approach to Effective Utilization and Maintenance of Physical Facilities in Secondary Schools. Ibadan: National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA). Adigun AO (1994). Analysis of Physical Facilities Utilization in Lagos

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