APPRAISAL OF EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION PROGRAMME IMPLEMENTATION IN ENUGU STATE

The study sought to appraise the level of implementation of early childhood education programme in Enugu State. To carry out the study, five research questions were posed while three null hypotheses were formulated. The study adopted a survey research design. The study was done in Enugu State, Nigeria. The population of the study comprised of all the teachers in early childhood care education schools in Enugu state. The population size of the teachers is 617 in the 2012/2013 school session. The sample size of the study was all the 617 early childhood education programme teachers in all the public ECCE in Enugu State. The instruments for data collection in this study were checklist and structured questionnaire titled an Appraisal of Early Childhood Education Programme Implementation Questionnaire (AECEPIQ). Data collected were analyzed using percentage, mean, standard deviation and independent samples t-test. The research questions were answered using percentage for research questions 1 and 2, mean and standard deviation for research questions 3, 4 and 5. The three null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using independent samples t-test. Findings of the study revealed that; Majority of the ECCE teachers in both rural and urban schools are teachers that have NCE certificate; The number of established ECCE programme in rural primary schools in Enugu state is small compared to the primary schools in urban area; there is a significant difference in the mean ratings of teachers on the extent of provision of infrastructure and equipment in ECCE programmes in early childcare education schools in Enugu state in favour of the teachers in urban schools; there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of teachers on the extent of availability of standard curriculum in ECCE programmes in early childcare education schools in Enugu State; there is no significant difference in the mean ratings of teachers on the extent of supervision of ECCE programme in early childcare education. Among the implications of findings is that the establishment of ECCE programme in rural primary schools which was found to be to a low extent implies that the Federal Government intension of education for all by year 2015 will not be feasible. It was recommended among others that government should ensure adequate establishment of ECCE programme in both urban and rural primary schools especially in rural area.