Institutional and Societal Challenges in the Utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for Transformation of Senior Secondary Education in Rivers State

Abstract

The study examined Institutional and Societal Challenges in the Utilization of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for transformation of Senior Secondary Education in Rivers State. Three research questions and hypotheses guided the study. Descriptive survey design was adopted with a population of 6859 teachers and principals in public senior secondary schools in Rivers State. The sample of the study was 823 which represents 12% of the entire population. A 4-point Likert scale self-structured questionnaire titled Societal and Institutional Challenges to the Utilization of Information and Technology for Secondary Education Questionnaire (SICUICTQ) was used for the study. The instrument which was made up of 30 items had its face and the content validity determined by three experts from the Department of measurement and evaluations while the reliability of the instrument was estimated to be 0.89 using Cronbach alpha coefficient. The data collected were analyzed using mean and standard deviation to answer all research questions while the z test was used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level significance. A criterion mean of 2.50 was used as the cut-off mean. Any mean greater than 2.50 was regarded as high extent while mean less than 2.50 was low extent. Findings of the study revealed that the availability of ICT facilities in secondary schools was to a low extent, ICT utilization was to a low extent due to lack of training, funding and that funding challenges affect the utilization of ICT for secondary Education Transformation in Rivers State to a high extent. The study recommended amongst others that for the transformation of the secondary educational system, the government and stakeholders of secondary education should provide ICT facilities in schools as well as look into the challenges of utilizing ICT for enhanced utilization of ICT for secondary education transformation.