ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND RESOURCE ALLOCATION EFFICIENCY IN EDUCATION IN NIGERIA: A CASE STUDY OF SECONDARY AND HIGHER INSTITUTIONS IN OYO STATE

Abstract

The study investigated the efficiency in the management of resource allocation in educational institutions in Nigeria with emphasis on public secondary schools and tertiary institutions in Oyo State using Artificial Intelligence (AI). The convergent parallel mixed method design was employed for the study. Both quantitative and qualitative methods, and both types of data were collected at the same time from 15 selected institutions comprising 350 educational administrators, teachers and IT support staff. The quantitative data was analysed using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVA and multiple regression, while the qualitative information was collected by thematisation of 25 semi-structured interviews and institutional documents. The findings indicate that the effectiveness of resources deployed is also improved when using AI. The regression results showed that barriers (lack of suitable infrastructure, reliability of electricity and technical skills) have positive influences on the implementation of the AI. Qualitative evidence also indicates that AI-supported systems enhance the scheduling, budgeting, and decision-making processes and highlight issues of algorithmic bias, data privacy, and professional training needs. It was also discovered that, under the right infrastructure, policy setting and human support, AI can be a strategic tool to enhance the efficiency and equity in the allocation of educational resources. The study, therefore, recommends that more investment needs to be made on digital infrastructure and ethical regulation of AI systems, and that continuous capacity building should be carried out for the teachers to facilitate effective and sustainable integration of AI technologies into the educational management.