Assessment of Tailoring Programme of School-On-Wheels Scheme of National Directorate of Employment

The study was on assessment of tailoring programme of the SOW scheme of the NDE in alleviating poverty among beneficiaries in Anambra State. Specifically, the study ascertained; the extent of coverage of basic tailoring course content within the six months of the SOW scheme training, the adequacy and functionality of availability training facilities, competency of administrators of the scheme, income earnings of beneficiaries before and after participating in the scheme, challenges facing the scheme and strategies for its improvement. The study adopted descriptive survey research design. It was carried out in Anambra State.

The population was 379 that comprised of 328 beneficiaries of the scheme trained on tailoring, 15 instructors and 36 staff of the NDE. Snowball sampling technique was used to draw a sample of 103 beneficiaries. All the instructors (15) and NDE staff (36) were used for the study bringing the total sample size to154. Four sets of instruments were used for data collection namely: School-On-Wheels Scheme Assessment Questionnaire (SOWSAQ -1), (SOWSAQ-11), (SOWSAQ -111) that were administered to beneficiaries, instructors and NDE staff respectively and a Focus Group Discussion (FGD) guide. The instruments were duly validated. Overall internal consistency reliability co-efficient of the questionnaires were:

0.93 for SOWSBAQ-1 for beneficiaries, 0.96 for SOWSBAQ-11 for instructors and 0.90 for SOWSBAQ-111 for NDE staff respectively which were determined using Cronbach Alpha. The data were analyzed using frequency for research question 2, frequency and percentage for research question 6, mean and standard deviation for research questions 1, 3, 4, 5, 7 and 8, while t ? test was used to test HOs 1-3 at 0.05 level of significance. Six out of 20 contents of the study were covered. Six facilities out of twelve stipulated basic tailoring facilities were adequately provided while the other half were inadequately provided. Nine out of the twelve facilities were functionally available. The non-functional but available facilities were electrically operated tools. Instructors possessed core tailoring competencies but lacked pedagogical skills. Beneficiaries possessed 9 tailoring competencies out of 28. The NDE staff did not adequately perform their administrative roles.

There were agreements in the opinions of beneficiaries and instructors on; extent of content coverage, functionalities of available facilities, adequacy of other resources, and competencies of NDE staff that were not significant. There were no differences in the income earnings of beneficiaries before and after their participation in the scheme. Challenges facing the scheme caught across: design, funding, maladministration and unhealthy socio-economic training environment with strategies for improving the scheme covering wide range of issues that included proper; programme design, funding, implementation and evaluation including engagement of qualified personnel. The study recommended; two years training period, provision of adequate resources, quality administrative services and decentralization of power within NDE establishment including regular monitoring and evaluation of the scheme by stakeholders among others.