GASPRO International Journal of Eminent Scholars

ABSTRACT

This study was to assess the competency development of electronic skill manual workers in

Akwa Ibom State as the determinant of maintenance of digital video disc (DVD) players and video signals decoders. A descriptive survey research design was used in the study. The study area was Akwa Ibom State. The Population of the study consisted of all the registered electronics artisans in the informal sector of Akwa Ibom State. The instrument for data collection was a questionnaire titled “Competency Development of Electronics Skill Manual Workers Questionnaire (CDESMWQ)”. The Validation of the Instrument was subjected to face validity by three lecturers of the University of Uyo who are experts in the field of vocational education, measurement and evaluation and electrical/electronic engineering. The Reliability of the Instrument was confirmed with the pilot test using 30 electronics skill manual workers in Akwa Ibom State who were not used of the study. A Cronbach Alpha reliability coefficient of 0.88 was realized. The instrument was administered by hand on the respondents with the help of two research assistants and the method of data analysis was means and standard deviation used for answering the research questions while the null hypotheses was tested with the t-test statistic at .05 probability level. The study concluded among others that location is not a significant factor in the competency development needs of urban and rural based skill manual workers in Akwa Ibom State for maintenance of the selected electronics appliances namely DVD Players and video signal decoders. It was therefore recommended that the federal and state ministries of education should organize workshops, seminars and conferences to synthesize electronics technology teachers and students on the need to attend professional development or training programmes, such as workshops, seminars and conferences as well as read professional electronic journals and books to enable them update their knowledge and skills on recent developments in the electronics industry.

KEYWORDS: Competency Development, Electronic, skill manual workers, Akwa Ibom State, digital video disc (DVD), video signals decoders and maintenance