Influence of Parents’ Educational Background on Pupils’ Enrolment and Retention in Nomadic Schools in North-Central Geo- Political Zone, Nigeria

Abstract

The pastoral nomads tend to have erroneous belief that the nature of the physical environment is suitable only for grazing purpose and not for any educational activities. This has influenced their attitude towards any educational programme unless adequate measures are taken to change their attitude in one way or the other. The study examined the influence of parents’ educational background on pupils’ enrolment and retention in nomadic schools in north- central, Nigeria. The study was guided by two objectives, two research questions and two null hypotheses. The study adopted a descriptive survey research design. The population of the study was 17, 498 nomadic parents and 25, 347 nomadic children. The sample for the study comprised of 120 nomadic parents and 261 nomadic primary school pupils. Two instruments were used in collecting data for the study, which were the proforma and a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics of mean and standard deviations were used to answer the research questions while Chi square statistics was used to test the hypotheses at the significant level of 0.05. The findings of the study revealed among others that parental educational background has no significant influence of the enrolment of their children in nomadic schools in North- Central, Nigeria, The study concluded that a lot has to be done to persuade parents to enroll and retain their  children in Nomadic schools. It was however recommended that   the Local Government Authorities should embark on strategic policy reforms that will encourage the participation of Nomadic parents in adult education classes.