IMPACT OF FUNDING IN THE ORGANIZATION OF SPORTS FOR THE DISABLED PERSONS IN SPECIAL SCHOOLS IN NIGERIA

The Nigeria National Education Policy (6-3-3-4) is specific on physical education when it stated in paragraph 7 and 8 of section one of the National Policy on Education that physical education will be emphasized at all levels of the educational system. In an attempt to further confirm the attention given to sport in Nigeria, the federal government of Nigeria’s Sports Development Policy documents (FRN, 1989) states that the Federal government accepts special responsibility for ensuring adequate level of funding for such programme as sports for the disabled. Very little efforts have been made in respect of proper funding for sports for the disabled in special schools in Nigeria. This paper discussed the impact of funding in the organization of sports for the disabled persons in special schools in Nigeria. The hypothesis stated in this paper was that funding has no significant impact in the organization of sport for the disabled persons in special schools in Nigeria. The population of this study consists of 5030 disabled students, 38 sports coordinators and 35 coaches of Special Schools in Nigeria. Proportionate sampling technique was used in selecting the number of respondents while simple random sampling technique was used to select the respondents from each of the special schools using the dip and pick method. A sample size of four hundred and eight (408) respondents made up of disabled persons in special schools, sports coordinators and coaches were used. A designed questionnaire for the deaf and dumb, the crippled were administered while the blind were equally administered with questionnaire which was interpreted into braille. The result in table 1 indicated the calculated chi-square value of 441.18 to be higher than the critical chi-square value of 34.17 at df 20 at 0.05 alpha level of significance. This shows that funding has significant impact in the organization of sports for the disabled persons in special schools in Nigeria. Therefore, the null hypothesis which states that funding has no significant impact in the organization of sports for the disabled persons in special schools in Nigeria is hereby rejected