Implementation of Education Sector Reforms and the Delivery of Quality Education in Enugu State Nigeria, 2011-2014

ABSTRACT The study evaluated the impact of education sector reforms on the quality of education in Nigeria, with a focus on Enugu State between 2011 and 2014. Specifically, the study investigated the link between the implementation of special intervention programmes under education sector reforms and enrolment of pupils in primary and junior secondary schools in Enugu State. The study relied on the conceptual propositions deriving from the Marxian instrumentalist theory. Based on primary and secondary data generated through the use of unstructured interview and qualitative method, and analyzed using quantitative and qualitative descriptive analysis, the study demonstrates that the implementation of staff development programmes under education sector reforms failed to enhance the capacity of teaching staff in public primary and junior secondary schools in Enugu State. The study also shows that implementation of institutional support programmes under education sector reforms did not ameliorate infrastructural challenges in public primary and junior secondary schools in Enugu State. Finally, the study indicates that the implementation of special intervention programmes under education sector reforms resulted in insignificant increase in enrolment of pupils in primary and junior secondary schools in Enugu State. Among others, the study recommends that poverty and other cultural and religious barrier that deny children access to quality education should be dealt with.