MANAGING CHILDREN CREATIVITY FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN COVID 19 ERA THROUGH RE-ENGINEERING EDUCATION AT PRIMARY SCHOOL LEVEL IN ANAMBRA STATE

The role of primary education towards development of children creativity for national development cannot be overemphasized. Notwithstanding this important role, yet primary education in this COVID 19 era suffers a lot of dismay especially in the provision of quality education. This poor situation has warranted the present study to investigate the need for managing children creativity for national development in COVID 19 era through re-engineering education at the primary school level in Anambra State. Three purposes and research questions guided the study. A descriptive survey research design was employed in the study. Population of the study comprised 1,067 head teachers and 8,396 teachers from 1,067 public primary schools within the 6 education zones in Anambra State. Sample of the study consisted of 213 head teachers and 420 teachers from 213 primary schools selected at 20% and 5% from the entire head teachers and teachers population using the proportionate stratified random sampling technique. A 24-item questionnaire titled ?Managing Children Creativity for National Development Questionnaire (MCCNDQ)? developed by the researchers and structured on a 4-point scale of Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD) was used for data collection. Two experts from Educational Management and Policy Department, and one expert from Educational Foundations Department (Measurement & Evaluation expert), Faculty of Education, Nnamdi Azikiwe University validated the questionnaire. Reliability of the questionnaire was established through a pilot test using a sample of 4 head teachers and 20 teachers selected from four public primary schools in Enugu State. The scores obtained after the pilot-test were computed using Cronbach Alpha statistics which gave internal consistency reliability value of 0.85, 0.82 and 0.87 for each of the three clusters respectively and summed up to yield an overall reliability value of 0.85, showing that the questionnaire was reliable for conducting the study. Data collated were analyzed using mean scores rated at 2.50 and standard deviation. From the findings of this study which revealed various ways of managing children creativity for national development in COVID 19 era through re-engineering of education at the primary school level, recommendations were proffered. Among these include that the State government should support the funding of primary education in Anambra State through adequate budgetary allocation and financial assistance from the private sector, in order to encourage the use of technological educational resources such as internet, computers, tablets, computer graphics, among others, which is essential and necessary for managing children creativity for national development in COVID 19 era and for re-engineering education at the primary school level in Anambra State.

Children, Creativity, COVID 19 Era, Re-Engineering, Education, Primary School,

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