Constraints to Implementation of Educational Planning and Its Implications for the Management of Educational Institutions in Kogi State, Nigeria

The paper examined constraints to implementation of educational planning and its implications for the management of educational institutions in Kogi state, Nigeria. Two research questions and two research hypotheses guided the study. The study adopted descriptive survey design. 794 staff comprised of principals and other staffers from various state educational agencies served as the population of the study. 318 (40%) staffers were purposefully sampled for the study. Educational Agencies Implementation Predictor (EAIP) served as instrument for data collection. The research questions were analyzed with the aid of mean and standard deviation while the null hypotheses were analyzed with t- test statistic. From the analysis of data collected, mean and standard deviation for RQ1 shows 3.34 and 0.72 for principals while 3.30 and 0.94 for other educational agencies. These show the existence of significant relationship in their opinions. RQ2 shows 3.36 and 0.68 for principals while 3.19 and 1.13 for other educational agencies showing the existence of significant relationship in their opinions. It was revealed by hypothesis 1 that the t-cal values of 3.32 yielded 0.0001 at 0.05 level of significance indicating that significant relationship existed between the opinions of principals and other educational agencies on factors responsible for non implementation of educational plans. (2) The t-cal values of 3.04 yielded 0.0004 at 0.05 level of significance indicating that significant relationship existed between the opinions of principals and other educational agencies on the strategies to be taken in actualization of educational plans in Kogi east education zone, Nigeria. It was concluded that funding, political, statistical, implementation factors and the use mediocre in education planning are factors responsible for non implementation of educational plans in Kogi East Education Zone. While provision of adequate funds, implements stable administration, timing implementation of educational policies amongst others are recommended as measures to be taken for the actualization of educational plans in Kogi East Education Zone.