LULU EKADINI ( 0203513036 )
Module 2 | Unit 4 | Planning of School Plant
Educational Management and Supervision
Monday 7 a.m
PLANNING OF SCHOOL PLANT
There are so many requirements to build a new
school, it includes planning a school plant. When we want to build a new school
we have to do the process of identifying, selecting, and acquiring a suitable
site for the school to be located, set up appropriate physical structure that
will assist in achieving the educational goals. The school plant planning
process involves citing, construction, and also provision of recreation spaces
for the achievement of educational goals.
There are some stages involved in the provision
of school plant, and the stages can be in this form of a model:
Each
of those stages has its particular characteristics and requires specialists
from the ministry of education, school architects, educational consultants,
accountants, and the engineers. The model also shows the interrelationship of
the stages involved in the procurement of school buildings.
On
the school site, there are five major spaces to enable it carry on the
effective activities of teaching and learning. They are instructional spaces,
administrative spaces, circulation spaces, spaces for convenience, and
accessories.
Here,
there are also several challenges that militates against proper
maintenance of school plant. Among the challenges, they are:
ï Finansial
Constraints
This very common problem is the primary and secondary schools. The head at
these levels of
education are starved
by the controlling
and regulatory body with fund to
maintain school plant.
ï Misuse
of School Physical Facilities
This
is often common with the way
both the
students and staff make use
of the toilets,
lecture rooms, libraries,
furniture, fittings, and other school facilities.
ï Mismanagement
of Maintenance Funds and Materials
School
administrators in Nigeria
mostly do not
spend the allocation
for maintenance appropriately. Money
allocated for maintenance
is either used for personal
purposes or on things other than maintenance.
ï Lack
of Dedication on the Part of Custodians
The custodians are those in
charge of the maintenance of
the physical The
custodians are facilities in the
school. The attitude of the custodians to work is very poor. Some of
them are absent
from work without
reasons. They lack maintenance culture.
With
the present economic situation, the school administrators are not sure of the
amount of money to
be received from
the government as
imprest or for
maintenance. The following strategies
could be adopted
to deal with
the challenges of
school plant maintenance:
¡ Community
Participation
The community needs
must have been
considered and given
priority at the initial
plant planning for
the school.
¡ Creation of Awareness
The government at local, state and federal levels, educational
administrators, curriculum planners
should embark on enlightenment campaign through the media
on the need to properly use and maintain the school plants.
¡ Setting up of Special Committees
These committees should be
set up by the school administrators at
the beginning of
the term.
¡ Regular School
Inspection/Supervision
Regular school
inspection by the school
head or ministry
of education will
assist in detecting
the problems on any of the school plant which if necessary action are
taken to remedy them early will prevent
total breakdown of the school plant.
¡ Provision of Adequate Funds
Government/Supervisory
agencies should make available to the institutional administrators adequate
funds to maintain school
plant in schools.
School buildings are designed to meet the
educational program requirements and to satisfy both the physical and emotional
needs of both the teachers and learners. For
this reason, and
many more, school
building should be considered and
planned effectively to
allow for effective
teaching and learning. However, there
are also some
challenges militating against school plant maintenance.
