Assessment of Factors Determining Parents’ Preference for Private Secondary Schools in Rural Communities of Cross River State

Abstract

This paper explored the underlying factors determining parents’ choice of sending their children/wards to private secondary schools, using Cross River State rural communities as a case study. Sixty (60) private secondary institutions in the state were selected through stratified sampling technique. A total of 720 respondents were used in the study. This comprised 360 parents (males 153 and females 207) 300 teachers and 60 principals. The study used two sets of questionnaire: Parents’ Patronage of Private School Questionnaire (PPPSQ) and Teachers’ Opinion on Parents’ Patronage of Private Schools Questionnaire (TOPPSQ). Survey design was adopted and percentages, and frequencies techniques were used. The study found out that private secondary schools in the area were highly patronized by parents who were influenced by pride of school ownership, effective monitoring of school activities by proprietors, high level of students achievement among other factors. One of the recommendations made was that government should adhere strictly to maintenance of high quality of school facilities and standard in order to avoid mediocre schools.

KEY WORDS: Assessment, Parents’ Patronage, Rural, Private – Schools.