Influence of Early Childhood Care Education on the Academic Performance and Retention of Primary School Pupils in Zaria City, Kaduna State

Abstract

The researcher assessed the influence of early childhood care education on the academic performance and retention of primary school pupils in Zaria City, Kaduna State. The study formulated two objectives, they include finding out the influence of ECCE program on the academic performance of primary school pupils and the influence of ECCE program on the retention ability of primary school pupils in Zaria City. The study employed descriptive survey design, using eight hundred and forty six (846) teachers and thirty one head teachers (31), making the total of eight hundred and seventy seven (877) teachers and head teachers derived from thirty one (31) primary schools found in Zaria City as the population of the study. The sample size for the study was two hundred and seventy eight (278), the sample size was determined using Sample Size Scale preferred by Research Advisers (2006), and simple random sampling was used for the sample selection. Questionnaire containing twenty (20) items statements was designed by the researcher which serves as an instrument for data collection. The instrument was validated, pilot tested and found reliable at 0.76 reliability coefficient. The data collected from the field was subjected to analysis using mean and standard deviation, as well as chi-squire for research questions and hypotheses respectively. Findings of the study revealed that; Early Child Care Education program has influence on the academic performance and retention ability of primary school pupils in Zaria City, Kaduna State. Having found the foregoing, the researcher recommended that; parents should enroll their wards in early child care education programme before they attend the age of six (that is primary school age) to enable the children perform academically better when they proceed to primary school level; and teachers, parents, government and school owners should put more effort to further improve the standard and academic activities of early child care education programme, since it is capable of increasing the retention ability of the recipient.