International Research Journal of Education and Technology

Among the proponents of “social demand approach” in the administration of Education, Education is viewed as a “magic wand” that can untie the fortune of the development of every nation. In view of this, education the world over, is seen as the potent tool for the development of any nation. Consequently, it has been recommended that every citizen of the world should be exposed to functional literacy level. Nigeria is not an exception to this clarion call. Hence, past and present administrations have in one way or the other tried to provide education to Nigeria citizens through various policy formulations like the Universal Primary Education (UPE) and the current Universal Basic Education (UBE). Cross Riverians stand to gain a lot from this lofty program if well implemented. However, experience has shown that the past programs were plagued by one problems or the other, of which UBE cannot be exception. In order to forestall the reoccurrence of the past, this work was deemed necessary. More so, the significance of this study further stems from the fact that Cross River State is regarded as Educationally Disadvantaged State (EDS). Due to this, the program cannot afford to fail in the state if images is to be redeemed. This study considered the following variables as every crucial to the success of the Universal Basic Education Program in Cross River State. These are: enough teachers, fishermen and their wards can benefit from the program. To properly guide the study, two research questions where formulated. The data collection instruments were fourteen (14) items questionnaire and a structural oral interview schedules. The questionnaire were administered to a total of 1,438respondents (all teachers) while the structured oral interview schedule was for four (4) staff on the State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) Calabar. A bench mark of 2.50 and above was set as acceptance criterion based on an arithmetic mean (X) score average. After a careful analysisof the items the major findings of the study are:       Qualified teachers are still inadequate to handle core subjects, as a result, some teachers teach subjects outside their area of specialization. Arrange by the government so that the nomads and migrants fishermen and their wards could benefit from the program is still inadequate. Based on the educational implications, informed by the findings of this study, some recommendations were made. Finally, the limitations of the study were pointed out and suggestions for further studies were made.

Keywords:Implementation, Universal Basic Education Programme, Teachers Nomads & Migrant Fishermen