Abstract:
The purpose of this study was to appraise the Child-friendly status of ECCE schools in Niger state. The study was guided by five research questions and five hypotheses. The population of the study consisted of all the 272 teachers in the 34 UNICEF-designated child friendly schools in Niger State. The sample for this study consisted of 272 teachers and 68 parents of ECCE pupils. Structured questionnaire was used to collect data to answer the research questions and hypothesis formulated to guide the study. This instrument was validated by three experts. Data were arranged and analyzed according to the research questions using means scores and standard deviation while the t-test was tested at 0.05significance level. The major findings of the study were that: To a great extent ECCE Schools in Niger State show diversity to ensure equal opportunities for all children; With respect to quality learning outcomes, ECCE Schools in Niger State to a great extent are child friendly; To a great extent, ECCE Schools in Niger State are accessible; Niger state do less to enhance ECCE teachers’ capacity; Niger State ECCE schools to a less extent are community-based and :There was no significant difference in the mean Child-friendly status of urban and rural ECCE schools in Niger state. Based on these findings, the conclusion is that much need to be done to improve basic ECCE in Niger State through child friendly school model. Hence, the major educational implication of the findings of the study is that there should be greater effort by stakeholders to create such stimulating milieu to motivate children to discover new skills and knowledge through child friendly school model. The researcher therefore recommended that quality assurance should be demonstrated through teacher and community capacity building. The major limitation of this study is inherent in the design of the study. Thus, the researcher suggested that other research designs and checklist be used to verify the variables of interest in this study.
