Challenges Faced by Mothers in the Maintenance of Primary School Children’s Clothing in Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area, Enugu State, Nigeria

This study investigates the specific challenges encountered by mothers in the propermaintenance of primary school children’s clothing within Igbo-Etiti Local Government Area(LGA) of Enugu State, Nigeria. Proper clothing maintenance is essential for extending garmentlifespan, ensuring hygiene, and promoting children’s neatness and self-esteem in school.However, cultural, socio-economic, and environmental factors often create barriers. Adescriptive survey design was employed. The population comprised all mothers with primaryschool children in the LGA. A sample of 200 mothers was drawn using a multi-stage samplingtechnique. A structured questionnaire titled “Mothers’ Clothing Maintenance ChallengeQuestionnaire (MCMCQ)” was used for data collection. The instrument was subjected to faceand content validation by experts and yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.85 using Cronbach'salpha. Data collected were analysed using mean scores { } and Standard Deviation (SD) toanswer the research questions, and the t-test statistic was used to test the hypothesis at a 0.05level of significance. The findings revealed that the primary challenges faced by mothersinclude economic constraints (high cost of quality detergents and replacement of worn-outclothes), time and energy challenges (juggling maintenance with other responsibilities), andenvironmental issues (limited access to a reliable water supply). Based on these findings, it wasconcluded that the mothers in Igbo-Etiti LGA face multiple, interconnected challenges inclothing maintenance. The study recommended that the government and non-governmentalorganisations provide micro-credit schemes for mothers and organise workshops on costeffectiveclothing maintenance techniques.