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AVAILABILITY AND UTILIZATION OF BASIC SCIENCE LABORATORY FACILITIES IN JUNIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS (A CASE STUDY OF AKOKO SOUTH WEST LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF ONDO STATE) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background of the Study In Nigeria as well as in other countries, education is perceived as a tool for socio-economic and political developments and as such it is accorded the necessary attention.  This position is amplified in the Nigerian National Policy on Education, which stated that education is an instrument par excellence for effecting national development, (The National Policy of Education, 2004).  It is added further that education shall continue to be highly rated in the national development plans because education is the most important instrument of change and that any fundamental change in the intellectual and social outlook of any society has to be preceded by educational revolution.  Recent study by Jekayinka (1998), Suleman Atiku (1997), Ajayi and Ayodele (2001), proved

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION 1.1    BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY Human development history has shown that sustainable development and self-sustaining progress of any country has generally followed the development and applications of science and technology (S&T), controlled by and responsive to the needs and endowment of a country (Adeniyi, 1999). Many developed countries of the world today achieved their level of development through the adaptation of technology and development of an efficient S&T capacity. There is no doubt that the importance of S&T to national development has been recognized by nations who currently are in the forefront of human development index. Consequently, human and national sustainable development are determined largely by the level of indigenous and endogenous scientific and technological research, the communication of research results and on the knowledge acquired and brought to bear on policy making, programme formulation, project implementation, monitori