Periodicity Of Maintenance: A Predictor Of Physical Conditions Of Buildings In Public Secondary Schools, Onitsha, Anambra State, Nigeria

Abstract

Improved conditions of school buildings play a vital role in achieving the educational goals of every society. There is a growing awareness that the conditions of buildings in public secondary schools in Nigeria are in a deplorable state of infrastructural decay due to poor maintenance practices. However, only a few studies have been done on the most appropriate maintenance approaches to adopt to improve the conditions of buildings in public secondary schools in Onitsha, Nigeria. This study, therefore, sought to to examine the relationship between the periodicity of maintenance and the physical conditions of buildings in the public secondary schools in Onitsha, Nigeria to provide feedback for improved building maintenance operations in the area. The research design for this study is a survey design. Data were obtained through both quantitative and qualitative research methods. Quantitative data were collected from the academic and non-academic staff and the school maintenance managers through structured questionnaires. The study focused on seven (7) schools chosen from the twenty-three (23) public secondary schools in the study area based on a simple random sampling method. Categorisation s the schools based on ownership structure before the government takeover into church, private and government was the basis for the first stage of stratification. Following the stratification, random sampling by balloting within the different strata was done to obtain the study sample. In the second stage, the number of staff of the selected schools was obtained and sampling size formulae were applied to obtain the number of respondents. Periodicity of maintenance and the physical conditions of buildings were interval scale variables, therefore, the Pearson Product Moment correlation tool was used to test the significance of the relationship. It was established that there is a significant relationship between the periodicity of maintenance and the physical conditions of buildings in the public secondary schools in Onitsha. This shows that the physical conditions of buildings are largely influenced by the periodicity of maintenance operations in the schools. This suggests that an increase in maintenance operations could result in improved condition of buildings in the schools. The study therefore concluded that the Anambra State Government should formulate maintenance policy and strategy and also develop minimum maintenance standards for efficient maintenance operations in public secondary school buildings in the state.