CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Drop out as defined by Heritage illustrated dictionary (1970) is to withdraw from participation in a game, club, school organized society. A person who quits school before completing a course of institution or one who has withdrawn from a given social group before the achievement of the set out goal for admission is said to have dropped out.
According to the oxford elementary dictionary for Nigeria, drop out is defined as ‘someone who does not want to work and who leaves his or her school colleges, job and soon without completing it.
Most students in schools fail for a great many reasons. This failure is as a result of one thing or the other. Close to forty five percent (45%) of those who began secondary schools, drop out before they finish for one reason or the other, there are many of such students than we think, that if our standard is raised much higher as some would have us do, we will find very soon just how many would be drop out except for a handful who may or may not be good. These set of students refused to develop more than a tiny part of the tremendous capacity for discipline, learning, understanding and the art of creating of which they made full use of during their early studentship.
This problem of drop out is gaining much ground in Nigeria today especially. In Edo state. The drop out now go about to be a menace in the society of which they belong. Among them are the pocket pickers, smoker of different weeds, rapist, prostitutes and robbers. They even get themselves drugged so that they would be motivated enough to carry out their evil and immoral plans on innocent citizens. This problem has eaten deep into our society that the aim of training or sending children to school nowadays by parents are unfulfilled and discouragement.
The problem caused by these drop outs motivates the researcher to find out the causes of these drop outs which has become a part and parcel of some schools Edo state. The suggestions and recommendation arising from the study will help solve this problem in future, so that parents themselves will achieve the aim of education.
Statement of the Problems
The major problem of this research is the cause of student drop out in secondary school in Edo state. The problem poses the following questions
Does drop out occur in these school? Is the home usually responsible for drop out? Does bad company or peer group influence drop out? Does bad school planning organization and administration encourage drop out? Does bad teaching method encouraged drop out?