1.0 The Business Profile
1.1 Business Description
GentleFlow Nursery and Primary School which is to be referred to as “GNPS” has been incorporated to provide educational services to children between the ages of 2 – 12 years. Responsibility for educational institutions is shared between Federal, State, Local government, communities and private organizations. GNPS as a private entity will be a profit operating organization whose exclusive purpose is to provide sound education to corroborate the effort of government in building manpower, raising future leaders and ensuring growth and development of the nation.
1.2 Service Descriptions
According to the constitutional provisions, the main responsibilities of the Federal government in basic education are in the realm of policy formulation, coordination and monitoring. Direct control by the Federal government is predominantly at the tertiary level. Primary Education in public schools is free, paid for by local governments, but there are expenses the families must pay, such as school uniforms, supplies, and transportation.
The Local governments have statutory managerial responsibility for primary education, with the federal and state governments exercising appropriate oversight functions. Most preschools and kindergartens are privately owned, but they must register with the government and follow federal guidelines. The federal government initiated an Early Childhood Care Development Education (ECCDE) program in the early 1990s, but rapid changes in political events prevented it from making progress. In 1991, only 4.7 percent of preschool children had some preprimary education. The program called for community-based childcare. In 2001, as support for the UBE program, some communities began building their own nursery and preschool facilities with federal money and international grants and loans.
The National Policy on Education stipulates a 6-3-3-4 structure offering six years of primary, three years of junior secondary, three years of senior secondary and four years of higher education. The category in which GNPS falls into is the preschool, kindergarten and primary schools which means it will be operating an eight-year programme for the children that fall into the aforementioned age bracket. The education that is offered at this level has two purposes,one is inculcation of permanent literacy and numeracy and ability to communicate effectively; two is character and moral training and development of sound attitudes; and the third is providing basic tool for further educational advancement .
The establishment of GNPS aims at producing children with sound education, good behaviour-patterns, abilities and skills necessary for effective citizenship in the community. In addition we expect that any child that will pass through our education system would develop latent physical skills, character, and intellectual skills and inculcate respect for elders and those in position of
authority. Other tasks to be performed by GNPS include developing in students a sense of belonging and to participate actively in family and community affairs and to understand, appreciate and promote the cultural heritage of the community at large.
1.3 Target Market and Customers
Our target market shall be children within the age bracket of 3-12 years of age as earlier mentioned. The community in which GNPS will be established has a great amount of this age bracket. For instance over 70% of the pupils who begin school today usually undergo the preschool program before advancing to primary school. After researching the population facts and statistics of Owerri community in which the GNPS will be launched, it is apparent that GNPS has a very suitable demographic for this
