Assessment of the Quality of Science Education Delivery in Unity Schools in North Central Nigeria

This study assessed the quality of Science Education delivery in Federal Government Colleges, known as Unity Schools, across the North Central geopolitical zone of Nigeria. Unity Schools are expected to model best practices in secondary education by virtue of their federal funding and national mandate; yet a systematic quality assessment of their Science Education delivery remains undocumented in recent literature. A mixed-methods design combining descriptive survey and document analysis was employed. The study covered 12 Unity Schools in Plateau, Benue, Kogi, Niger, Kwara, and Nasarawa States. Data were collected from 180 Science teachers, 60 laboratory technicians, and 600 students using validated instruments measuring teacher qualifications, laboratory adequacy, curriculum coverage, and student performance trends. Interview schedules were used to gather supplementary qualitative data from principals. Reliability was established at 0.83. Results indicated that while Unity Schools generally outperformed state-owned schools on infrastructure and teacher qualifications, there were notable disparities across states, with schools in more remote locations recording lower laboratory utilisation and curriculum coverage rates. Recommendations included differentiated funding allocation to address infrastructure disparities, mandatory curriculum coverage audits, and establishment of excellence benchmarks for federal secondary science instruction. Keywords: Unity Schools, Science education quality, North Central Nigeria, curriculum delivery, federal secondary schools.