An Appraisal of the Degree of School Effectiveness among Secondary Schools of Zamfara State, Nigeria

This study was conducted purposely to assess the degree of school effectiveness among public secondary schools of Zamfara State, Nigeria. In order to achieve this fundamental objective, one research question was formulated. A descriptive survey research design was adopted in the study. Population of the study comprised the entire 2361 classroom teachers deployed in the 158 public secondary schools of Zamfara State-Nigeria. From the population of the study, a sample size of 266 teachers was extracted using a ‘Multistage Random Sampling Technique’. A semi-structured questionnaire developed by Lezzote and Snyder (2011) on a five Likert type scale instrument with 21 items was employed as an instrument for data collection. The instrument composite reliability was computed using Cronbach’s alpha method and obtained the value of .949. All data covered in the study were collected through a field survey approach. Analytically, the current study discovered that, the degree of school effectiveness was at a high extent with mean score (M=3.68, SD=0.15). Based on this finding, the paper recommends that, stakeholders in educational sector comprising government’s ministries, departments and agencies, policymakers, secondary schools’ principals, instructional teachers as well as the learners and their parents/guardians should reciprocally work together in the process of appropriate perpetration and advancement of effective school system and its practices.

Partitioning of Some Selected Contaminants in the Environment of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Ajk , Pakistan

It has been a rising stress from the last few decades that living organisms (animals and plants) are unprotected toward release of toxic substances into the environment. Toxic properties and ecological conducts of these harmful substances are of universal apprehension because of their tenacious, bio-accumulative and lethal belongings towards environmental reliabilities, humans and biota. Among these chemicals, various toxic chemicals i.e. heavy metals, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) have been investigated for their effect on biota via different routes of application. Present research was conducted, to evaluate the spatial distribution patterns, pollution load, fingerprinting, source apportionment, ecological risks of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and heavy metals among environmental matrixes of riverine environment from Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). Samples of air, water, sediment, soil, dust, human hair and human nails were collected during May-June 2014 from eleven selected locations along river Neelam, river Kunhar, river Poonch and river Jhelum. Atomic absorption photometer and Gas Chromatography Mass Spectrometry (GCMS) were used to analyze the desired pollutants from collected matrices from the study area. It was revealed from results that the mean ƩOCPs concentration ranged from 4.95 to 13.07 pg/L (mean: 8.85 ± 2.96 pg/L) in water - Poly Ethylene (PE), 14.06 to 191.02 pg/m3 (mean: 101.90 ± 65.14 pg/m3) in air, and 65.97 to 592.86 pg/g (231.27 ± 209.50 pg/g) in soil samples; with ƩDDTs, ƩChlordane and ƩHCHs are the most abundant OCPs contaminants in the environment. The ∑33PCBs congeners were detected in each studied environmental compartment and concentrations ranged from 31.17 to 175.25 pg/L (mean: 81.01 ± 46.47 pg/L), ND to 1908.72 pg/g (mean: 1054.08 ± 5 88.53 pg/g), and 29.82 to 94.41 pg/m3 (mean: 52.92 ± 22.70 pg / m3) in the water - PE, soil and air samples, respectively. The homologs profile of PCB from the study area indicated the dominance of hepta - CBs in water passive samplers of poly ethylene (PE), penta - CBs in soil, and hexa - CBs in air, respectively. While, the dioxin-like PCBs (DL - PCBs) has also contributed significantly among the total PCBs. The nationwide comparison of OCPs levels revealed that the current levels were relatively lower than adjacent plain regions. Highest mean ∑PCBs concentrations were found in soil 74%, followed by, water PE 8% and air samples 4% among the investigated tributaries of river Jhelum. Overall the most polluted sites along river Jhelum identified as Kohala, Damashi and Chakothi. In particular, the site Damishi which receives the water flow starting from through Jalkhad area in the valleys of Kaghan, Naran Garhi Habibullah, Balakot and finally emerges in river Jhelum outside Muzaffarabad city, near at village Damishi Pattan in Azad Kashmir. Results of heavy metals analysis showed that the Chromium (Cr) in the ground water ranged 3.50-7.43 mg/L and its mean value calculated Cr 5.49 mg/L. The Cr concentration in all the ground water samples exceeded the WHO guidelines for ground water 0.05 mg/L. Manganese (Mn) ranged17.80-36.86 mg/Lwhile its mean value recorded 28.57 mg/L. The concentration of Mn in ground water samples exceeded WHO guidelines 0.5 mg/L. Nickle (Ni) concentration measured 0.00-8.29 mg/L while its mean value was calculated 1.49 mg/L. Higher concentration of heavy metals were found in water samples collected from urban areas as compared to semi urban or rural areas while among three different studied zones, the concentrations of heavy metlas in all soil samples recorded within permissible limits suggested by Eurpeon Union (EU) and World Health Organizatio (WHO). Altogether pragmatic steps are required to attain the ecologically unsafe litters comprising persistent organic pollutants, distressing ecological partitions and finally, health of the human being. The ecological relations of POPs make efforts predictable for migration, cross-cutting approaches, prevention and control of these pollutants.