Awareness and Access to Educational Broadcasting Programmes among Secondary school students in Egbeda Community, Lagos

ABSTRACT

Educational broadcasting policy has been successfully used for diffusing education among audience in so many countries across the world. It is a policy that has been adjudged effective in bridging the gap between the classroom and home, and an effective alternative for the deprived and unreached. Just like many other nations, Nigeria in the past had an effective educational broadcasting policy that facilitated the production and transmission of educational programmes to schools and homes. However, currently there is a drastic decline in such programme on broadcast media despite the media growth and development in the country. Therefore, the decline in educational programmes and incessant failure recorded in senior secondary school examinations in the country necessitated an investigation into awareness and access to educational broadcasting programmes among secondary school students in Egbeda community in Lagos. Five research questions were examined which included: Are the secondary school students in Egbeda aware of educational broadcasting programmes? What are the types of educational programmes the students are exposed to? Where do the students access educational programmes most on broadcast media? Which media do the students prefer to access educational programmes from? What is the level of the students’ interest in educational programmes? The theories adopted for the study were McQuaill’s Development Media theory which proposes among others that the media should  be used to carry out certain development tasks in the society; while Agenda Setting theory assumes that the media determine what the audience or masses consider as important topic; and Selectivity theory explains the process of communication or message reception by the audience, of which emphasis was placed on selective exposure which says the audience or individual determines which media or information to expose itself that suits its predisposition. A survey of 300 secondary school students with questionnaire administered to them was used to gather the data to answer the research questions. The data were analysed and presented using statistical table, frequency, percentage and graphs. The findings revealed that: Most of the students are aware of educational programmes on broadcast stations in Lagos; and most of them do access the programmes but irregularly; most of them are exposed to the informal type of educational broadcasting; most of the students access the programmes on television and prefer the television as the medium for the programmes; and there is high interest in educational programmes among the students, with a strong desire for more attention to be given to producing more of them and the establishment of dedicated radio and television stations for educational programmes. Therefore, the study concluded that there is high awareness of educational broadcasting programmes but inadequate and irregular access to the programmes among the secondary school students in Egbeda community, Lagos.

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

       Pages

Title Pagei

Declarationii

Certificationiii

Dedication iv

Acknowledgementsv

Abstractviii

Table of Contentsix

List of Tablesx

List of Figuresxi

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study1  

Statement of the Problem7

Purpose of the study9

Research Objectives9

Research Questions10

Scope of the Study10

Significance of the Study10

Limitations to the Study11

Definition of Terms11

References13

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW

Conceptual Review14

Empirical Review35

Theoretical Framework48

References50

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY

Research Design53

Research Method53

Study Population54

Sample Size54

Sampling Technique55

Method of Data Collection/Instrument55

Data Presentation and Analysis Procedure 55

Validity and Reliability56

References57

CHAPTER FOUR: DATA PRESENTATION AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS

Data Presentation and Analysis 58

Discussion of Findings72

References 75

CHAPTER FIVE: SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

Summary79

Conclusion77

Recommendations80

Recommendations for Further Studies 81

Bibliography82

Appendix86

 

LIST OF TABLES

            Pages

Table 1:Demographic table58

Table 2:Broadcast media the respondents use most59

Table 3:Frequency of respondents’ listening and viewing of

broadcast media 59

Table 4:The programmes respondents do access on radio and television59

Table 5:Respondents’ knowledge of the availability of educational programmes           on radio and television stations in Lagos60

Table 6:Respondents’ knowledge of the availability of educational programmes          on radio and television stations in Lagos61

Table 7:The broadcast media that air the educational programmes that the               respondents access63

Table 8:          Frequency of broadcast of educational programmes                                      65

Table 9:Frequency of respondents’ access of educational programmes on             radio and television65

Table 10:Broadcast medium that airs educational the programmes most66

Table 11:Respondents’ preference of broadcast media for accessing educational programmes66

Table 12:Respondents who found the educational programmes interesting67

Table 13:Respondents that learn from the educational programmes67

Table 14:Respondents’ rating of the effectiveness of the educational programmes          as teaching and learning tools68

Table 15:Respondents’ interest in more educational programmes on broadcast stations 68

Table 16:Respondents’ preference for a broadcast station dedicated to                educational programmes only69

Table 17:Respondents’ views on the need for broadcast organisations,                   especially government-owned broadcast stations to pay more                       attention to educational programmes70

Table 18:Respondents who commented70

 

LIST OF FIGURES

      Pages

Figure 1: Programmes respondents access on radio and television60

Figure 2:Types of educational programmes the respondents are exposed to61

Figure 3:Names of the educational programmes the respondents 

access on radio or television stations.62

Figure 4:Broadcast stations that transmit the educational programmes64