Assessment of Almajirin System of Education: It’s Implication for Child, Family and National Development in Minna Metropolis, Niger State, Nigeria

This work was undertaken to find out the implication of Almajirin system of education on the child, family and the nation at large. A hundred and twenty questionnaires were distributed among people from selected towns in Niger state, Nigeria. Interviews and surveys were also conducted. The instrument for the study was a self-designed questionnaire. A sample of 120 people in the selected areas was drawn using simple random sampling. Data was analyzed using frequency Tables, percentage and mean. It was observed that Almajiri system of education have a strong and positive impact on the child, family and the nation at large. Based on the findings of the study it was recommended that government should consider addressing the feeding and welfare needs of the Almajirin and their Mallams, infrastructural facilities should also be provided

Effects of place-based and activity-based approaches in technical education, interest and retention

This study was designed to determine the effects of place-based and activity-based learning approaches on students’ achievement, interest and retention in technical education. A pre-test, post-test, non-equivalent control group, quasi-experimental research design was adopted. The study constituted a total number of 122 subjects, 63 for the place-based education, while 59 for the activity-based learning. Three research questions and three null hypotheses, tested at 0.05 level of significance, guided the study. The instruments used for data collection were Technical Education Cognitive Achievement Test (TECAT), Technical Education Psychomotor Achievement Test (TEPAT) and Technical Education Interest Inventory (TEII) The reliability coefficient obtained was 0.78. Mean was used to answer the research questions; while ANCOVA was employed to test the hypotheses. The study revealed that students taught Technical education using the place-based education instructional approach had a higher mean score than students taught using the activity-based learning teaching method in cognitive achievement test, psychomotor achievement test and test for retention of learning. It was recommended among others that; The National Board for Technical Education (NBTE) should consider a review of technical education curriculum for Technical Colleges with a view to incorporating the place-based education instructional approach into the teaching of technical education

Compliance of agrochemical marketers with banned cocoa pesticides in southwest Nigeria

This study investigated the compliance of marketers of agrochemicals with the approved and banned cocoa pesticides in selected cocoa producing states of southwest Nigeria. Primary data was collected through the use of structured questionnaire administered to randomly selected agrochemical marketers. All the marketers (100%) were aware of the recently banned cocoa pesticides, however, majority still have the pesticides in stock. About 70.6% of the marketers in Osun state and 58.8% in Ogun state stated that they did not receive information on the banned pesticides from government agencies but through other channels. More than half of the marketers (52.9% in Ogun, 55% in Kwara and 47.1% in Osun) strongly disagreed that government should place a ban on pesticides. Availability of banned pesticides in their stock, insufficient information from the concerned government agricultural agencies, and fear of short supply of approved pesticides are among the reasons proffered by the marketers for not supporting the ban of pesticides. Relevant government regulatory agencies should conduct a comprehensive inventory of pesticides offered for sale by the marketers of agrochemicals. There should be massive public awareness programme, and wellcoordinated association for all the marketers of agrochemicals. Agrochemical manufacturers should translate instructions and warnings on pesticide labels to local languages understood by the farmers.U ovom radu je istraživana usaglašenost prodavaca agrohemikalija sa odobrenim i zabranjenim pesticidima koji se koriste u državama jugozapadne Nigerije koje prizvode kakao. Primarni podaci su prikupljeni pomoću struktuiranog upitnika koji je podeljen slučajno odabranim prodavcima agrohemikalija. Svi prodavci (100%) su bili upoznati sa nedavno zabranjenim pesticidima za kakao, ali ipak većina njih i dalje ima te pesticide u ponudi. Oko 70,6% prodavaca u državi Osun i 58,8% u državi Ogun je navelo da nisu dobili nikakvu informaciju u vezi sa zabranjenim pesticidima od vladinih agencija, već putem drugih kanala. Više od polovine prodavaca (52,9% u državi Ogun, 55% u državi Kwara i 47,1% u državi Osun) se oštro usprotivila tome da vlada treba da stavi zabranu na pesticide. Dostupnost zabranjenih pesticida u skladištima, nedovoljno informacija od odgovarajućih vladinih agencija za poljoprivredu, kao i strah od nestašice odobrenih pesticida su među razlozima za nepodržavanje zabrane korišćenja pesticida koje su naveli prodavci. Relevantne vladine regulacione agencije treba da sastave svebuhvatan spisak pesticida koje prodaju prodavci agrohemikalijama. Takođe bi trebalo obezbediti i program o javnoj svesti, kao i dobro koordinisano udruženje za sve prodavce agrohemikalija. Proizvođači agrohemikalija bi trebalo da prevedu uputstva i upozorenja na etiketama koje se nalaze na ambalažama pesticida na lokalne jezike koje poljoprivrednici razumeju.http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=AGShb201