The Impact Of School Records On The Administration Of Senior Secondary Schools
[A CASE STUDY OF LORIN SOUTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF KWARA STATE]

Data bank is useful to educational planners in projecting into the future. A plan, whether educational, political or economic, that is premised on faulty statistics (data) can be compared to a house that is built on faulty foundation. Consequently, the educational planner at different levels have the duty of information of accurate premises” upon which to base their plans if such plans are to succeed (Duku 1987). Planning entails predicting the future and to articulate the appropriate course of action, and requires availability of adequate information (Davar 1998). But the bane of educational planning at different local, state and even national levels in Nigeria appear to be the absence of adequate and accurate records because of the difficulties experienced in obtaining reliable and up to date records. A number of projects including the Universal Free Primary Education Programme (UPE)and Universal Basic Education (UBE)schemes launched in Nigeria in 1976 and 1999 respectively, are believed to have failed largely because they were premised on faulty statistics.
2.4.4    Facts on important activities in the schools 
It is very important that the principal being an organizer and administrator of a school must keep some records that will give, to an extent information on the day-to-day activities of the school. The records must fulfill certain conditions if they are to serve any useful purpose. Records must be used, records must be available, records must be complete and must be honest (exaggeration and untrue statement must be avoided) (Ojelabi 1981).
    There must be authentic source of information for referencing on staff and students of schools when need be (Elele 1995) had argued that if school records are properly kept, they serve as an information bank from which the principal and his staff can recall stored information when needed (Eresimadu and Nduka 1997), pointed out that since records cannot be left to the memories of the people, they must be kept to form a repertoire of useful information for individual staff, the school, the community and other educational institution the nation and the rest of the world. She records is a source of school history (Kempner 1990) noted that records enable the school head to understand the background nature, problems activities, and progress of the school and of each child.
    Kempner acknowledges the fact that it is the duty of school heads, teachers and the administration to provide records when needed. School records is a veritable guide for school inspection / supervision, record keeping is an important guide to secondary school principal to adopt efficient administrative procedures in the keeping of school records.
    These procedures, as enunciated by (Ehiametalor and Aderonmu 1995), include prompt procurement of records from the appropriate authorities, proper delegation of duties to teacher on the keeping of records and efficient monitoring and supervising of teachers delegated to keep records.
2.5    Problem Associated with Record Keeping in Schools
    As important as information from school records are to effective administration of schools, effective record keeping in schools have many problems some of these problems include:
2.5.    Inability to Keep Available Records: High rate of pupils attrition especially in the rural areas poses a big problem, children who are enrolled in school fall out of school at will, either through sheer lack of interest or ignorance of what school holds in stock for them in future. Ignorance, poor attitude of parents cause parents to withdraw their children from school without as much telling the headmaster. Infrastructure and equipment are destroyed from time to time by bush fire, rain storms, white ants and mischievous persons, including school pupils. All these contribute in no small measure in frustrating the efforts of the planner at acquiring valid and reliable data (Uwazurike 1992).
2.5.2    Poor Attitude of School Personnel Towards Data Collection     Despite the fact that teachers and principals are witnesses to the problems described above, they are many a time, uncooperative when records are demanded of them from time to time in respect of their schools. Rather than make effort, they copy out old records verbatim or amend them slightly and submit to the head office.
2.5.3    Shortage of Staff
 The section of the educational offices charged with collecting educational statistics is very often under staffed. As a result of the shortage in the number and quite often qualifications and experiences of such staff,  they can not cope with the volume of work before them. They do their best, but sometimes, their best falls short of the requirements of the planning office.