EVALUATION OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF FEDERAL GOVERNMENT COLLEGES (UNITY SCHOOLS) IN NIGERIA

ABSTRACT

Most school administrators may not have the opportunity of participating in planning, site selection, recruitment, selection and placement of personnel in their schools. As administrators, they are saddled with maintenance of school facilities, orientation of the personnel and play so many other roles in the management of school organization so that the school operates in conducive environment to enhance teaching and learning. Such other roles as making informed and rational decisions, enhancing effective communication among staff, students, management and community, and making sure that interpersonal relationship are maintained in the work environment for teachers and students to perform optimally, adopt effective training and development strategies for staff, spell out clear school rules and regulations and enforce proper mechanism to ensure discipline maintenance. Adopt workable strategies to them, their relationship with their community and other stakeholders within and outside the community, adopt quality assurance mechanism for reliable examination and set the standard for admission of students to ensure quality of students admitted to schools. The task of the administrator of secondary school is enormous and demanding but he can pull through if given the adequate training. Chapter 2 reviewed literature under the following communication, interpersonal relationship, supervision and inspection, staff training and development, personnel recruitment, discipline maintenance, facilities, community relationship, administration of examination, admission of students. Questionnaire was the instrument used for this survey research. The questionnaire has 110 items and targeted the principals, vice principals, teachers and Parent Teacher Association (PTA) chairmen of 26 unity schools across the six geo-political zones of Nigeria and Abuja-The Federal Capital Territory with 780 sampled respondents. Statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 17 was used in analyzing the research data descriptively and inferentially and also graphical representation of respondents’ personal information. Regression model was the suitable statistical tool employed in testing the 11 hypotheses. On the bases of making scientific decisions, (0.01) was used as the level of significance. Findings reveal that teachers and students are involved in decision making process on issues that concern them. The administrators are democratic in decision making. There is effective communication process in the schools. There is cordial relationship among staff, between staff and students, administration and staff and administration and students. There is enough supervision of school and instruction. There is improved staff development system, and there is a system of mentoring and menteering. Staffs are employed on merit though promotions are not regular and welfare packages are not in place. Discipline is maintained through proper orientation of staff and students. Parents Teachers Association provides and maintain most of the facilities in the schools. Schools participate in community activities and vise versa. Examinations are conducted in line with school calendar and seen as cooperate duty of the schools. Selection and admission of students are joint activity of the Federal Ministry and the administration of schools. It concluded that for effective school administration and achievement of educational goals and objectives in the face of dwindling and allocation to the education sector, administrators must apply all the tools necessary for smooth running of schools and recommended that for greater effective and efficient school achievement, individuals with proper training in education administration/management should be appointed as school administrators

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1        Background to the Study

Secondary education came into what is now Nigeria in the 19^th Century largely through the effort of the Christian missions. The government for a very long time did not complement the efforts of the Christian mission. It was only in 1909 that the colonial government established its first institution, the King‟s College, Lagos. The establishment of King‟s College in 1909 marked the beginning of the dichotomy between public and private institutions.

The methods and standards of decision making processes varied greatly from one school to another due to different proprietorship and operational structure. Enrolment was highly selective and limited. Schools were at that time run on the colonial philosophical ideology which was strongly based on the assumption that education should be given to a “selected few” initially. It was hoped that the few pioneers were expected to give education to the rest of the people.

The proprietor of each school appointed the leadership which could best represent his wishes, interest and ideals, and this leadership was mainly accountable only to the proprietor. There was no form of uniformity or cohesiveness in the admission of students, because students admitted in these secondary schools were selected from all over the country. Students admitted fell between the ages of fourteen and twenty years if not more. These students were matured and therefore knew why they were in school. There was a remarkable sense of discipline in the behaviour of students. There were very few cases of deviant behaviour on the part of the students and teachers. That might have accounted for the simplicity of administration of the schools. Shortly after the civil war, most schools were hurriedly taken over by government. Most of these secondary schools lost their initial hold, things were no longer the same, schools were now brought under a unified body which was controlled by the State School Boards of Education. All aspects of the school system changed.

The Federal Government saw the need for the Integration of Nigeria children, hence the establishment of Federal Government Colleges aka Unity Schools. Federal Government Colleges were conceived to be unifying institutions, bringing together young Nigerian teenagers from multifarious ethnic and religious divides with a view to instilling high quality education into the students in an environment of academic and developmental excellence devoid of ethnic, religious or social stratification that ruled Nigeria then and unfortunately continuous to plague Nigeria till today.

The Federal Government of Nigeria established two unity schools‟ in each state. These are secondary schools that draw students from all states of the federation. The number of secondary schools has grown in recent years and this is accompanied by a marked increase in the students population, and the size of most schools system, the role and task of the educational administrators has become significantly very demanding and problematic.

Objectives of Secondary Education

The primary goals of secondary education according to National Policy on Education (2004) are twofold: to (i) prepare learners for useful living within the society and (ii) for participation in higher education. Deriving from these goals are the specific objectives of secondary education which are classified into cognitive and attitudinal directed objectives.

The principal as an administrator in a school setting occupies a unique and challenging position. Because of the numerous pressures on him from the Education Board, his staff, students, parents and the community at large, the principal is always faced with conditions requiring him to act rationally all the time. Hence principals tend to take nearly all decisions in schools alone or with few members of his staff. This type of decision making which could be termed authoritarian could be as a result of saving time or because of their leadership style. Whatever be the reason, and if decision making were to remain what it is “selection of a course of action from various alternatives” it should not be the exclusive duty of the school principal. Since it is a well established fact that, the most important responsibility of the principal is making decisions and getting actions on them; the success in any activity, therefore depends on decisions being appropriated both in content and timing. For decision to be effective, there is the need to examine as many alternatives as possible, suggesting that, as much as possible, all those to be directly affected by a decisional issue should in one way or another be allowed to participate in taking decision on the issue. In taking such action, there should be enough input from which the best line of action could be selected. This calls for wide publicity of any decision issue as, if given, the input would be higher and would have taken into account the areas and needs of the entire staff of the organization. The administrative style of a good principal is an open participatory one where all members of staff have total input into the system and particularly into any change revealing the staff as a team of individuals, who work, argue and make decision together.

The need for personnel participation in decision making appears more for a number of reasons: it will be appreciated that the educational standards of personnel are probably higher these days. As a result, there is more awareness of what is happening around them. In some schools, it is not impossible or uncommon to find subordinate personnel who are more qualified than the principal and their vice. To this category of personnel, money alone does not give the full satisfaction they need; in addition, authority to make decisions may be more valued and satisfying by them. Since such personnel may be better equipped with facts administratively than the principal, they should be allowed a hand in decision making. Again, because of the discovery that increased Personnel Participation in Decision Making is Accompanied by Greater Ego Involvement, Greater Identification with Organizational Goals and Higher Levels of Motivation and Satisfaction (Hewitson, 1978).

When administrators appraise personnel participation in decision making, they mean that such personnel are involved in making decision which affect them and their work and that such participation puts them above the robot level, giving them a sense of belonging and boosting their morale. The National Policy on Education encourages teachers to participate more in decision making by having a say in students promotion and certification through continuous assessment rather than the outdated reliance on the terminal examination for evaluating a student‟s mental and intellectual abilities, leaving the affective and psychomotor domains unassessed. With the National Policy on Education‟s stand on participatory decision making, personnel are required to participate more in the production and assessment of educational materials and teaching aids, the planning and development of school buildings and furniture and the evaluation of technical innovations and new techniques (NPE 2004 Revised). Other aspects of the school activities requiring participatory decision making are on matters concerning students‟ management, subject allocation and budget preparation. What are the situations in our secondary schools today and how are decisions taken and implement. An organization to a large extent determines and controls the decision making process. Thus, for a successful study of the decision making process of any organization, one must understand the basic structure within that organization.

Decision making therefore mobilizes the vision and energizes the resources of the organization for effective action. However, the understanding of the organization‟s problem in decision making is central for effective implementation of set objectives. Griffith (1959) rightly pointed out that effective decision making process follows these enumerated steps;

1. Recognition, definition and delimitation of the problem.
2. Analysis and evaluation of the problem
3. Establishment of criteria or standards by which result will be evaluated or judged as acceptable and adequate to the end.
4. Collection of data
5. Formulation and selection of one preferred solution.
6. Putting into effect the preferred solution such as:
7. Programme solution
8. Controlling of the activities in the programme 

• Evaluation of the results and the process.

How has this decision making process impacted on the administrator in the areas of communication, supervision, leadership, staffing and staff welfare. Communication is an essential element for achievement of institutional goals. It is vital for interpersonal relations and if used ineffectively, people working together will likely be in conflict most of the time. Through quality communication, cooperation is fostered among employees, teachers, parents and students. School administrators need sound communication to carry out reforms and adapt to changes in the environment. Undoubtedly, communication is one of the most important elements in promoting wholesome school organization.

The school as a bureaucracy serves the public. When the public receives information in the right form at the right time, the school delivers good service. When the public gets to communicate with the school and vice-versa, there is transparency. Thus communication and information transfer helps to raise the quality of educational services to the people. The need for communication is an important part of human nature, but is often neglected or ignored by many school administrators. Very often they are seen confined in their offices. Contacts and association with their peers or subordinates are made very formally. Sometimes structured, filtered and full of red tapes are their communication with their staff. A secretary or liaison officer serves as receptionist who receives or filters the communication. Seldom does interpersonal connection take place. If it ever happens, it is just to explain, report or reprimand subordinates for job half done or badly done. Communication practices of administrators and their understanding of their employees and staff are of great importance. In doing their functions and carrying out their roles, school administrators also need to consider skills in solving organizational communication problems.

Equipped with leadership qualities, the administrator is expected to manifest communication competence in terms of management skills, roles and functions in the exercise of his profession. He has to deal with different people of varied traits, orientation, ideas, needs, behaviour and qualities who compose the organization. Towards this end, he has to build mutual understanding and rapport among his peers, subordinates and community.

A closer look into administrator‟s communication practices along management competence reveals diversity of personalities. In managing and dealing with their subordinates, school administrators carry out varied communication practices. An imminent problem in their communication and the organizational climate looms as diverse strategies are employed that apparently affects the self-esteem, confidence, morale, and productivity of the teachers. Any educational institution‟s failure or success largely depends on how school administrators communicate their management competence to their staff. (www.igbm.org.page10yen).

School management and supervision become less efficient and effective when administrators‟ communication practices, as well as problems arising from exercises of management skills, roles and functions are regarded as less important owing to divergent personalities, character and behaviours. Some administrators are concerned with self development while others are unmindful of the need for motivation, teamwork, communication and feelings. Administrators‟ professional attributes and qualities that include management communication practices and problems need objective appraisal as they are deemed potent factors for achieving organizational objectives, for fast delivery of educational services and for maximized internal efficiency. (www.igbm.org.page10yenjui-yen).

Supervision is an extremely vital part of a workplace that needs to maximize its success potential. It naturally follows, then, that poor supervision in a workplace is among the primary obstacles to achieving potential successes by a business. After all, employees no matter their task, must have proper instruction and training to ensure that they are doing their jobs correctly and with minimal risk of error or injury.

When an organization has poor supervision, there is not enough responsibility for taking action for the prevention of problems, mistakes, accidents and injuries. Poor supervision removes a very important part of employees support process, eliminating the opportunity for reference, learning and safety.

Poor supervision opens the door for unethical behaviours within an organization. With poor supervision, employees commonly feel that their work is not valued by the organization, and loyalty is difficult to form – if it forms at all. Without loyalty, employees are more likely to deviate from acceptable organizational practices. Such activities can include theft, decreased employee effort, using equipment without authorization, and falsifying documents among other things.

To avoid poor supervision in your organization, you should consider supervisors not necessarily to be role enforcers, but instead, they should be employee support people. They are the individuals who can assist employees when their work can be improved through different techniques. They impart safety knowledge and are the people to whom employees can come if they have questions and concerns about their tasks. A good supervisor should be approachable and a good people-person who knows the different equipment and jobs required by the employees, and is willing to help employees achieve. (http//:answers.yahoo.com/question/index.)

School leaders must be highly qualified, given the inconsistent demands and contradictions placed on the education system today.

Such demands are because our society is dynamically complex, highly political and undergoing unprecedented changes. True, authentic, accountable and dynamic leaders are greatly needed. Schools are faced with leadership crisis today. Different school cultures warrant different leadership strategies. However, the principles and ethics must never be compromised. School leaders with 15-20 year qualification find it difficult and impossible to manage changes in education in the 21^st century.

It is not children‟s indiscipline which gives stress to leaders, it is their obsolete qualification which is unworkable with the challenges of the 21^st century educational demands. The challenges faced in contemporary education were never faced, twenty years back. Today, school leaders are beleaguered and disorientated when faced with new challenges, some beyond their comprehension while others too alien in nature to resolve and tackle. This is one of the key reasons for stress among leaders/teachers which affects children and quality education. Most problems in schools is attributed to weakness in leadership. Dynamic leaders are needed to respond to pressures from stakeholders in education. If the education system is to become challenging and worthwhile, the search for highly qualified, dynamic and ethical leadership is paramount. Poor leadership begets poor teachers. Flexible leaders realize that school development is a team effort. Education is a partnership between Schools, the State and Community. Sound decision making relies on motivation and commitment of every staff and collaboration of the school community. Mostly, unilateral decisions are made by leaders behind closed doors. Such bureaucratic decisions reflect poor leadership. (story.aspx.htm).

It doesn‟t take a lot of research to tell us that discipline in school is different today than it was in the 1950. But it does take some investigation to find out why. Various studies have shown that students who act up in school express a variety of reasons for doing so:

Some think that teachers don‟t care about them

Others don‟t want to be in school at all

They don‟t consider goal setting and success in school important anymore

Students are unaware that their adolescent behaviours will result in punishment they won‟t like

Discipline enforcers have to go through long procedures of due process; hearings, specific charges, witnesses and appeals.

Despite these hurdles, students agree that discipline is needed in schools. If there were no discipline, the school would not be distinguished from the street.

If everyone agrees that discipline is key to safety in schools, why do we still have a problem

In many schools, teachers are intimidated by their students out of fear of retaliation, they fail to report problems or ignore them hoping that the students responsible will quit the bad behaviour by themselves.

State and Federal laws require that some special needs students receive special attention. Many adults and school systems believe that troubled students are not responsible for their actions, thus they are not punished as severely as other students.

Very simply, too many adults fail to model the behaviours they want from students. Modeling the rules that students are to follow should be required of all adults. All adults in a community, especially parents and teachers, need to model integrity, honesty, respect and self-control.

Because of internal administrative problems or lack of procedures, many school officials fail to enforce the rules or punish students for infractions. Some fear law suits from parents; others just don‟t care, or they are burned out of self-esteem.

Many schools have emphasized self-esteem over and above everything else. Some teachers are afraid to discipline or demand good behaviour because it will hurt the child‟s esteem. The result now we have ill-behaved, rude kids – but they feel good about themselves. Basically, school discipline has become lax over the years as our relationships have weakened. Consolidated school systems and mega schools have made the separation between family and school wider than ever. These mega schools have largely ignored the local community. Also, some parents have lost touch with their children for many different reasons. For school discipline to be successful, we need to restore those relationships. Parents and schools need to work together to instill the importance of education into children of all ages. Finding discipline procedures that work is a job for students, parents and teachers to explore together. In today‟s society, working together within the school and community will help teach children that working as a team can effectively solve the problem (View Article-EduGuide.htm).

1.2        Statement of Problem

With practically less professional educational administrative background and knowledge, many principals are faced with so many complicated problems in the school organization. Such major problems as decision making, communication, discipline, leadership supervision, staffing and staff welfare Communication is often neglected or ignored by many school administrators. Very often they are seen confirmed in their offices. Contracts and association with their peers or subordinates are made formally. Sometimes structure filtered and full of red tapes are their communication with their staff. A secretary or liason officer serves as receptionist who receives or filters the communication. Seldom does interpersonal connection take place. If it over happens, it is just to explain, report or reprimand subordinates for job half done or bodily done. Communication practices of administrators and their understanding of their employees and staff are of great importance. Communication is an essential ailment for achievement of institutional goals. It is vital for interpersonal relations and if used ineffectively, people working together will likely be in conflict most of the time. Through quality communication, cooperation is fostered among employees, teachers, parents and students. School administrators need sound communication to carry out reforms and adapt to changes in the environment. Undoubtedly, communication is one of the most important elements in promoting wholesome school organization.

The school as a bureaucracy serves the public when the public receives information in the right form at the right time, the school delivers good service. When the public gets to communicate with the school and vice-versa, there is transparency. Thus communication and information transfer helps to raise the quality of educational services to the people.

Equipped with leadership qualities, the administrator is expected to manifest communication competence in terms of management skills, roles and functions in the exercise of his profession. He has to deal with different people of varied tracts, orientation, ideas, needs, behavior and qualities who compose the organization. Towards this end, he has to build mutual understanding and rapport among his peers, subordinates and community. In doing their functions and carrying out their roles, school administrators also need to consider skills in solving organizational communication problems.

School management and supervision become less efficient and effective when administrators communication practice, as well as problems arising from exercises of management skills, roles and functions are regarded as less important owing to divergent personalities, character and behaviours. Some administrators are concerned with self development while others are unmindful of the need for motivation, team work, communication and feelings. Administrators‟ professional attributes and qualities that include management communication practices and problems need objective appraisal as they are deemed potent factors for achieving organizational objectives, for fast delivery of educational services and for maximized internal efficiency.

Supervision is an extremely vital part of a workplace that needs to maximize its success potential. It naturally follows, then that poor supervision in school organization is among the primary obstacles to achieving potential successes by the education system.

When an organization has poor supervision, there is not enough responsibility for taking action for the prevention of problems, mistakes, accidents and injuries. Poor supervision removes a very important part of employees‟ support process, eliminating the opportunity for reference, learning and safety. Poor supervision opens the door for unethical behaviours within an organization. With poor supervision, employees commonly feel that their work is not valued by the organization, and loyalty is difficult to form-if it forms at all.

Most school administrators are inapproachable and lack the requisite knowledge required of the job. This does not help teachers to achieve maximally.

Without loyalty, teachers and staff are more likely to deviate from acceptable organizational practices. Some administrators are role enforcers rather than employee supporters. Because they are role enforcers, they become fault finders instead of helping teachers to improve on the teaching skills and techniques which enhance and improve the learning of the students.

Different school cultures warrant different leadership strategies. However, the principles and ethics must never be compromised. School leaders with 15-20 year qualification find it difficult and impossible to manage changes in education in the 21^st century. What we find today in most schools is that administrators and school leaders are there on the basis of experience. School leaders must be highly qualified, given the inconsistent demands and contradictions placed on the education system today. Such demands are because our society is dynamically complex, highly political and undergoing unprecedented changes. True, authentic, accountable and dynamic leaders are greatly needed considering the leadership crisis that schools face today, it is not children‟s indiscipline which gives stress to leaders, it is their obsolete qualification which is unworkable with the challenges of the 21^st century educational demands. The challenges faced in contemporary education were never faced, twenty years back. Today, school leaders are beleaguered and disorientated when faced with new challenges, some beyond their comprehension. While others were alien in nature to resolve and tackle. This is one of the key reasons for stress among leaders/teachers which affects children and quality education. Most problems in schools is attributed to weakness of leadership.

If the education system is to become challenging and worthwhile, the search for highly qualified dynamic and ethical leadership is paramount. Poor leadership begets poor teachers. Flexible leaders realize that school development in a team effort. Education is partnership between schools, the state and community, sound decision making relies on motivation and commitment of every staff and collaboration of the school community. Mostly, unilateral decisions are made by leaders behind closed doors. Such bureaucratic decisions reflect poor leadership. It doesn‟t take a lot of research to tell us that discipline in school is different today than it was in the 1950s, but it does take some investigation to find out why. Various studies have shown that students who act up in school express a variety of reasons for doing so:

• Some think that teachers don‟t care about them.
• Other don‟t want to be in school at all.
• Other complain of harsh school rules and regulations.
• They don‟t consider goal setting and success in school important anymore probably due to lack of facilities and learning materials etc.

Because of internal administrative problems or lack of procedures, many schools fail to enforce the rules or punish students for infractions. Some fear law suits from parents; others don‟t just care, or they are burned out of self esteem.

Many schools have emphasized self-esteem over and above everything else. Some teachers are afraid of discipline or demand good behavior because it hurts the child‟s esteem.

Basically, school discipline has become lax over the years as our relationship has weakened. Some parents have lost touch with their children for many different reasons. Parents and schools need to work together to instill the importance of education into children of all ages. Finding discipline procedures that work is a job for students, parents and teachers to explore together. In today‟s society, working together within the school and community will help teach children that working as a team can effectively solve the problem. It is in view of the negative effects these problem may have on decision making process on the administration of federal unity secondary schools in Nigeria that this study/research is embarked upon with a view to proffer suitable suggestions and make appropriate recommendations.

1.3        Objectives:

This study is set to achieve the following objectives

1. To find out the decision making process of Federal Unity Schools in Nigeria.
2. To evaluate the communication process of Unity Schools in Nigeria
3. To appraise the level of interpersonal relationship in the schools.
4. To examine the level of inspection and supervision in the schools.
5. To assess the training and development of staffs in the schools.
6. To evaluate the recruitment, placement and promotion process of the schools.
7. To appraise the process of maintenance of discipline in the school.
8. To assess the availability maintenance of facilities in the schools.
9. To evaluate the school community relationship.
10. To appraise the process of administration of examinations in the schools.
11. To examine the process on the admission of students in the schools.

1.4        Research Questions

The study sought to answers the following questions:

1. What is the nature of decision making process in the Federal Unity Schools?
2. How effective is the communication process in the schools?
3. How does interpersonal relationship of the colleges affect the general working environment?
4. How do supervisors and inspectors supervise and inspect the schools for effective goal achievement?
5. How are personnel recruited, placed and promoted in the schools?
6. Are staffs trained and developed to ensure motivation?
7. How is discipline maintained to ensure effective and smooth running of the schools?
8. Who is responsible for provision and maintenance of facilities in the schools?
9. Is school-community relationship maintained and cordial?
10. Who is responsible for examination administration to ensure reliability?
11. Who is responsible for the admission of students into the schools?

1.5          Hypotheses

1. There is no significant relationship between decision making process and administration of the Unity Schools.
2. There is no significant relationship between communication and administration of the Unity Schools.
3. There is no significant relationship between the tone of the organization and administration in the schools.
4. There is no significant relationship between supervision and inspection and the administration of the schools.
5. There is no significant relationship between recruitment, replacement/promotion and administration of the schools.
6. There is no significant relationship between training and staff development and the administration of the schools.
7. There is no significant relationship between administration and discipline maintenance in the schools?
8. There is no significant relationship between administration and provision of maintenance of facilities in the schools.
9. There is no significant relationship between administration and community relationship in the schools.
10. There is no significant relationship between administration of examination and administration of the schools.
11. There is no significant relationship between admission of students and administration of the schools.

1.6          Basic Assumptions

It is assumed that there are bottlenecks in the decision making process which does not allow for the smooth and successful functioning of schools. The bottlenecks are due to the principal‟s decision making process and the nature of the school organization, which might not suit the students and staff within the school. It is assumed that the present decision making process and other administrative activities like communication, discipline, leadership and supervision hampers the realization of school organization‟s goals. It is assumed that;

1. Administration impacts on decision making process in the schools.
2. Administration impacts on the communication process of the schools.
3. Administration impacts on interpersonal relationship in the schools.
4. Administration impacts on inspection and supervision of the schools.
5. Administration impacts on the recruitment, replacement and promotion of staffs in the schools.
6. Administration impacts on staff training and development in the schools.
7. Administration impacts on the maintenance of discipline in the schools.
8. Administration impacts on the provision and maintenance of facilities in the schools.
9. Administration impacts on school-community relationship.
10. Administration impacts on administration of examinations in the schools.
11. Administration impacts on admission of students.

1.7        Significance of the Study

This study is an attempt to analyze more critically some of the issues relating to decision and decision making process in the school system particularly in the Nigerian secondary school sector. It is hoped that this study will foster team spirit and co-operation between educational administrators, their staff and students which are essential for realization of the schools goals and objectives. It is hoped again that this study will throw more light into the new trend in the administration of formal organizations, and to find out to what extent administration impacts on decision making process, communication, inspection and supervision of schools, staff development, maintenance of discipline, recruitment, replace and promotion, interpersonal relationship, school-community relationship, maintenance of facilities, administration of examination and admission of students.

1.8        Scope of the Study

This study is limited to Federal Unity Secondary Schools in Nigeria. for wide coverage and removal of bias in the study the entire country was covered through the political zones. Two states were chosen for each of the zones. From each of the two states, two schools were used and two schools from the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) Abuja bringing the total to 26 schools.