Investigation into the Truant Behaviours among Secondary School Teachers in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State: The Counselling Implications (Published)
Truancy among secondary school teachers in Emohua Local Government Area has reached alarming proportion with disastrous consequences. This descriptive study investigated truant behaviours among secondary school teachers in Emohua Local Government Area of Rivers State. Three research questions were answered and two hypotheses tested at 0.05. Teachers’ attendance data were obtained from attendance registers provided in the schools. The results of the study show that overall rate of teacher absenteeism in Emohua Local Government Area was 38.62%. Rate of absenteeism among female teachers was found to be significantly higher than that of the male teachers, while the rate of absenteeism among married teachers was significantly higher than that of the single teachers. This rate of teacher absenteeism as found in this study is an indication that there is counselling failure among the counsellors in public secondary schools in Emohua Local Government Area. Therefore, counsellors must intensify their efforts using various programmes including individual or group counselling, seminar, workshops and conferences to enlighten the teachers on the need to be dedicated in their duties. The counsellors must also impress on the teachers the importance of doing their work diligently for social economic, technological and political development of the nation
Keywords: Absenteeism, Education, National Development, Truancy, facilities, salary
The Challenges of Building Maintenance in Nigeria: (A Case Study of Ekiti State) (Published)
This study examined the challenges of building maintenance in Nigeria. The study embarked on physical inspection of the facilities of some public and private buildings, identified defects in the buildings, determined the causes of the defect and proffered remedies for them. Data for the study were collected through well-structured questionnaire administered to building industry professionals. Data collected were analyzed using frequency distribution tables and relative significance index. The findings revealed that in the level of dilapidation of services in the facilities, kerosene cooking system ranked first (68% significance) followed by flush toilet (66%), while the pail system ranked least with (50%) significance. Considering the severity of defects in facilities, peeling of wall surface ranked first (50.8% significance) while foundation failure and sagging of beams were ranked least with (42.8%). The causes of defects in the facilities were investigated and the use of untested or inferior materials (56.8%) was the most devastating factor. Availability of qualified and competent construction industry professionals was generally believed to be the most significant factor that would impact on the drive to achieve quality of maintenance operations in Nigeria.
Keywords: Building maintenance, Building systems, Defects, Dilapidation, facilities