SCHOOL PLANT AND MAINTENANCE
UNIT 5 SCHOOL PLANT AND MAINTENANCE
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Objectives
3.0 Main Content
3.1 Meaning of school plant
3.2 Management/Maintenance of school plant
3.3 Types of school plant maintenance.
4.0 Conclusion
5.0 Summary
6.0. Tutor marked assignment
7.0 References/Further Reading
1.0 Introduction
In this unit, we are going to look at the concept of school plant, and how to maintain the school facilities. Adequate and appropriate school plants are indispensable in educational process. Proper maintenance of school plant in the schools will not only boost the morale of teachers and students. It will also ensure that the objectives of the school system are achieved.
2.0 Objectives
At the end of this unit, students should be able to: (i)
Define school plant.
(ii)
Explain/state the meaning of school plant management.
(iii)
Give reasons why school plant must be maintained.
(iv)
Briefly describe the various types of school plant maintenance
3.0 Main Contents
Education is an industry that also makes use of human, material and financial resources like the production industry. The school plant is the physical facilities available in the school; this can be likened to the capital in production industry. There is no gainsaying that school plants are necessary ingredients towards achievement of effective teaching- learning activities. As a result of this, there is need to ensure availability of school plant and it should be maximally utilized and maintained by school administrators and their staff. Adaralegbe (1983) observed that, inspectors’ reports over the years have indicated that there is abundant evidence of a catalogue of inadequacies in the provision and judicious use of school buildings and instructional materials.
The proportion of increase in students population in Nigeria schools at all levels year-in year-out is much higher than the proportion of increase in the provision of school plant.
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Government has not considered the need to expand or put in place new school plant in the some proportion to student popula tion growth. This has led to over-utilization of the existing school plant because of the pressure on them.
3.1 Meaning of School Plant
The term ‘school plant’ embraces all physical structures and infrastructural facilities in the school premises such as the classroom buildings, hostels, halls, offices, libraries, laboratories, instructional materials room, workshops, and equipment used for educational use towards achievement of educational goals. Olagboye (1998) refers to school plant as school physical facilities which include buildings, equipment, machinery, vehicles, books, electrical infrastructure and water supply. Durosaro (1998) opines that school plant embraces both permanent and semi-permanent structures on the school premises as well as means of transport, teaching equipment and even the cleaner’s tools. To Fadipe (1998), school plants are the non-consumable materials in the school for the promotion of teaching of teaching-learning activities. Adeboyeje (2000) defines school plant as the physical facilities within the school which are basic materials that must be available and considered to be able to achieve the objectives of the school.
The availability of these facilities (in quantity and quality) determines the quality of instruction and students performance in the school’s internally and externally conducted examinations. To Olutola (2000), school plant embraces both permanent and semi- permanent structures as well as items such as machines, laboratory equipment, the chalkboard and the teachers’ tools.
Self Assessment Exercise
From all the definitions provided above, think of an appropriate definition of your own for the term ‘school plant’.
From all the definitions above, school plant covers all facilities required to facilitate teaching and learning. School plant can also be said to include; buildings (classrooms, hostels, libraries, laboratories, assembly halls, administrative blocks, staff quarters where available), equipment (laboratory and workshop equipment , sporting equipment, instructional teaching materials, typewriters or and computers, printers), machiner y (duplicating and secretarial machines, workshops machines and tools), furniture (classroom and office furniture, hostels and staff quarters furniture), vehicles (official vehicles for school head and principal officers of the school, school bus, water tankers), books (text-books, stationeries, library books), electrical infrastructure (overhead electrical conductor lines, meters generating sets, air conditioners, fans and other electrical fittings) and water supply infrastructure (public water extension to the school, bore holes, deep well, water tanks, either used for teaching and learning or to support those activities.
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3.2 Management/Maintenance of School Plant
School plants or school physical facilities are essential aspect of educational administration. Effective and efficient teaching and learning may not be achieved if schools are wrongly located, or if the classrooms are not well constructed or if the equipment available are over-utilized, under-utilized or are not well maintained. Management of school plant is a process of planning to meet the need of the school in terms of physical facilities, maintaining and keeping such facilities in good condition at all times so that the facilities can be used as at when needed for teaching and learning. Adeboyeje (1994) posited that efficient management of school plant is a must to make the school a pleasant, safe and comfortable place for the activities of the community. One of the important duties of institutional administrator is the maintenance of the school plant.
Maintenance of school plant is an important aspect of school administration. It is the activities embarked upon by the school administrators to ensure that school plant remain in the same state, the activities include repairs, servicing, painting, greasing etc. Maintenance can also be those activities put in place to keep and restore the original condition of an item. When activities such as repairs, servicing, painting, etc., are put in place to keep or restore the original condition of an item, the item is being maintained. Maintenance of school plant therefore implies the process of or any other activities that involve repairs, servicing, painting, etc and which is been carried out on any of the components of school plant in an attempt to keep or restore it back to the original condition and more importantly to ensure that the school plants are in good shape.
The aim of maintenance of school plant is to ensure that it remains in the best condition for educational instruction at all times. Miller (1965) observed that construction of new block of classroom and other buildings and alteration to the existing buildings are not the whole housing effort; it also involves the continuing operation and maintenance of the school plant. It is therefore necessary for school administrators to have the knowledge of operating and maintaining school plants. School plant maintenance requires maximum cooperation and hard work from the officials of ministry of education, the school administrator, the school staff (academic and non-academic), the students and the community where the school is located.
3.3 Types of School Plant Maintenance
Maintenance services of school plant may take any of the following forms:
(i)
Preventive and Predictive Maintenance: this form of maintenance is aimed at preventing the occurrence of total breakdowns of school plants available for use. It is also aimed at preventing situations which can put parts of the school plant out of use. Examples of services under preventive maintenance are timely and regular servicing of vehicles, generating sets, duplicating machines, cutting of trees, periodic repair and painting of classroom building and other school buildings.
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(ii)
Corrective and E mergency Maintenance: this type of repair is a spontaneous repair c arried out at the appropriate time. For example, the timely rectification of electrical faults in the school buildings will prevent the possibility of any fire outbreak. Other activities that could be grouped under this are: replacing leaking pipes, replacing bad plugs, or cleaning of the plugs on time.
(iii)
Breakdown Maintenance: this type of maintenance is otherwise known as emergency maintenance; it is that maintenance that aimed at rectifies breakdowns in any component of the school plant. It involves preparation for a possible but unpredictable breakdown of school plant by procuring in advance spare parts that will be needed in case of breakdown. Breakdown maintenance is the maintenance carried out after the breakdowns of the school plant
heavy monetary outlay. Ineffective/inefficient preventive maintenance leads to total breakdown and invariably breakdown maintenance.
which will
require
(iv)
Running Maintenance: this type of maintenance is otherwise known as regular maintenance which is carried out when the school plant is still in use. For example the repair carried out on the school generating set in the day while the lesson is going on and before it will be needed at night, the repair is completed, and the repair/servicing done on the school van during the school lesson period and before the students are ready to be taken back to their various homes/bus stop, the repair is over. This type of maintenance is referred to as running maintenance.
(v)
Shutdown Maintenance: This type of maintenance is carried out only when the operations of the school have been closed or postponed or suspended for a given period of time to carry out the maintenance work. This type of maintenance is carried out when a major work/repair is to be done in a classroom. For example, if a windstorm damages a classroom block or if a building collapse in the school, the school may be shut for a specific period of time to carry out major repair on the dilapidated building occasioned by storm.
4.0 Conclusion
The achievement of the overall goals and objectives of education revolves around the ability of the learners to utilize the various opportunities offered by the school and its environment. It is not just imperative that the school should have a functional school plant, it is equally very important that each school plant be well maintained to improve students’ academic performance.
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5.0 Summary
In this unit, we are able to see that school plant embraces all infrastructural facilities in the school premises. It could also be send to mean both permanent and semi-permanent structures on the school premises which also include machines, vehicles, and instructional materials. Various ways of maintaining school plant was discussed as well as the various types of school plant maintenance
6.0 Tutor-Marked Assignment
(i)
Give a brief definition of school plant.
(ii)
Briefly discuss fire (5) types of school plant maintenance.