PRINCIPALS’ SAFETY AND LIBRARY SERVICES AS CORRELATES OF CHILD-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT IN PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN DELTA STATE

Abstract

The study investigated principals’ safety and library services as correlates of child-friendly environment in public secondary schools in Delta State. Two research questions guided the study and two null hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance. The study population comprised all students from the 462 public secondary schools in Delta State. A multistage sampling procedure was used to draw 802 SSS two students. A researcher-developed instruments titled ‘‘Principals’ Safety and Library Services Questionnaire (PSLSQ)’’ and ‘‘Child-Friendly Environment Scale (CFES)’’ were used for data collection. The instruments were subjected to face validation by three experts comprising two lecturers from the Department of Educational Management and Policy, and the other a specialist in Measurement and Evaluation, all from the Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka. The internal consistency of the instruments was determined using the Cronbach Alpha method, which yielded overall reliability indices of 0.82 for PSLSQ and 0.79 for CFES, respectively. The instruments were administered by the researcher with the help of five research assistants and a 98% return rate was recorded. Pearson’s Product-Moment Correlation Coefficient was used to answer the research questions and test hypotheses. The findings of the study revealed among others, that safety services have a strong and significant relationship with a child-friendly environment in public secondary schools in Delta State. It was also found that library services have a moderate and significant relationship with a child-friendly environment in public secondary schools in Delta State. Based on the findings, it was recommended, among other things, that the Ministry of Education should invest in library infrastructure development through funding for the provision of information resources and annual training of principals to enhance their expertise in providing library services, thereby fostering a child-friendly environment in secondary schools.