ABSTRACT

The main purpose of this study is to assess the early childhood care education providers’ adherence to the national minimum standard in Zone C (Idoma) Education Area, Benue State. Five research questions and five hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. The population of this study consisted of 5,999 head teachers and teachers in 170 primary schools in Zone C (Idoma) Education Area. The sample size was 381 head teachers and teachers drawn from the population. The sample was drawn using simple random technique. The instrument for data collection was a structured questionnaire titled “Early Childhood Care Education Providers’ Adherenc e to National Minimum Standard Questionnaire’s (ECCEPANMSQ) was adopted by the researcher. Three experts validated the instrument and the instrument yielded an overall reliability coefficient of 0.89. The data collected was analysed using mean and standard deviation to answer the research questions while t-test statistic was used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings of the study were that: ECCE providers have not adhered to the requirements of the National minimum standard on the recruitment of teachers, the ECCE centres are not regularly supervised by the providers, the learning environment is not conducive enough, teaching materials are not used in line with the requirement of the National minimum standard and also children’s health is not well protected. Based on the findings of the study, conclusions were drawn and recommendations were made.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study
Education is a process of developing an individual to help him improve himself and his/her society. The Federal Republic of Nigeria as stated in the National policy on education[Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN), 2004], Education is defined as the process that helps to develop the whole being, physically, mentally, morally, politically, socially, economically and technologically. Education will enable the individual function in any environment in which they may find themselves. Education is the process through which a child or an adult acquires knowledge, experience, skills and sound attitude. It makes an individual civilized, refined, cultured and educated (Nwagwu, 2003). The value and importance of educating the child can never be over emphasized.

A child is a young human being between birth and puberty. According to Opera (2012), a child is a person known as a minor from birth to the legal age of maturity, for whose parents and caregivers, foster parents, public or private homes, institutional or agency is responsible. The child is somebody under a legally specified age who is considered not to be legally responsible for his or her actions. In this study a child is defined as a person from the age of zero to five years under the care of caregivers, helpers and securities in Early Childhood Care Education (ECCE) Centres.