CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Education was seen as the necessary instrument immediately and essentially for the consolidation of the independence. For securing the new nation against neocolonialism and for making workable the newly established self government in a multi-ethnic society. Mass education, at least to the level of literacy, was also seen by the Nigerian leaders to be necessary to create a proper foundation for a democratic government.
Best (1984), the desire to use education for nation building was (and is still) very compelling and so much was the faith in education that the schools of the nation were not only meant for political socialization but also for other social functions and for economic growth. to achieve these goals Universal Primary Education (UPE) was introduced nationwide in 1976, although hitherto this has been practiced in some parts of the country. Toward the end of the second decade of achieving nationhood status, therefore, Nigeria witnessed a phenomenal expansion at all levels of her education.
Education is the best legacy a nation can give to her citizens especially the youth. This is because the development of any nation or community depends largely on the quality of education of such a nation. It is generally believed that the basis for any true development must commence with the development of human resources. Much then is said that formal education remains the vehicle for social-economic development and social mobilization in any society.
According to Olotu (1994), in the quest of finding survival feet, the nation has evolved series of socio-economic and educational measures and policies such as Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAP), Austerity measures, Universal Primary Education (UPE), Universal Basic Education (UBE), and devaluation of the Naira. These measures have not improved the social-economic and educational status of families in the country. They have rather increased their sufferings and widened the social-economic gap between families. Johnson (1996) lamented that parents become poor due to these hard measures, such that they can no longer provide adequately for good education of their children. Also, they can no longer provide shelter, clothing and special need of their children in school (such as provision of textbooks, uniforms, and good medical care and so on. High level of illiteracy, poverty and low socio-economic status coupled with high rate of paternal and maternal deprivation of student academic needs, which was necessitated by poor socio-economic situation of the country has thrown many farmers and old rural dwellers into untold financial problems such as poverty, lack of money to purchase necessary textbooks and working materials for their kids.
Also many rural and suburban dwellers can no longer pay the school fees of their wards. These ugly situations have promoted young school students to dropout of school to engage in subsistence farming and become housemaids or engage in other menial jobs to support their academic pursuit. Hence, many students have since taken schooling as a secondary assignment and school attendance on a rotational basis. The resultant problem posed by this, is poor academic performance in school examination like National Examination Council (NECO) and West African Examination Council (WAEC).
This trend is posing huge problems to parents, government and stakeholders in education. This paper thus examines the socio-economic factors responsible for the poor academic performance of secondary school students in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State Nigeria.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
It has been established that students who are taught by the same teacher in the same class, do not perform the same way when tested. While some students fail woefully, some pass excellently. This is assured to be as a result of some home environment affecting each student on his academic work. Many students according to researchers Schneider and Coleman (1993), Steinberg et al (1996) have been identified, to be suffering from home environment such as numerous family, peer, and economic factors that contribute to academic performance either positively or negatively. Consideration of physical and mental health problems for academic performance is also important. However, in the student academic performance, the closest thing to a conceptual framework is the emphasis on combination of different factors that are expected to influence the student preface, i.e. nutrition, food tickets, government support for education, room-mates, effort distance from learning place, age, gender, etc.
1.3 Purpose of the Study
This study is aimed at
i Establishing the effects of home environment in the performance of students in the school.
ii. Examining the issue of student’s personal factors in his academic performance.
iii. Explaining the variance of scholastic attainment of secondary school students.
iv. Examining the relationship among concept, academic ability and type of home and academic achievement.
v. Critically examining the effects of factors like parental attitude, environment, standard of living, poverty, tideous house chores, hawking etc.
vi. To find solution to problems discovered from these purpose.
Therefore , this work is an assessment of these problems with a view to offering suggestion that will help to solve the problems.
1.4 Research Questions
This study provides to answers the following questions:
i. Does parent contributes to the academic performance of their children in secondary school?
ii. Does environment motivate the secondary school student’s academic performance?
iii Does the student have any reading habit when he got home?
iv. Does the parent provide additional lesson after the school for the children?
v. Do the students involve in any social activities after their school?
1.5 Scope of the Study
This study is limited to some selected public secondary schools in Odeda Local Government Area of Ogun State.
1.6 Significance of the Study
The significance of this study is the fact that we want to open the eyes of some involved people to the problems some students faced at home.
This study will further open the eyes of the guidance counsellors, teachers, psychologists, and secondary school principals to the problems facing some students at home, which directly related to their achievement in school. It would reveal that except the problems of homes are firstly solved, students couldn’t excel in school as expected.
In addition, parent’s would be made to realize that the success of their children is in their hands since the degree of care, motivation and encouragement which parents give their children will determine their academic performance in school.
1.7 Definition of Terms
The following terms have been defined operational as follows:
Home environment: These are the things that is important to notice at home. Factors at home might be what is happening home, which we must consider.
Academic Performance: In this context, academic performance is that which is based on classroom performance of the student recorded tests and examination. It further refers to total academic ability of a student e.g. ability to speak or answer questions in class, ability to communicate with people in English language.
Family: Biologically a family is made up of a group of people related by blood or sharing a common ancestor. As a social unit, the family is characterized by common residence and economic cooperation and it is a unit of socialization. It includes adults of both sexes, at least two or who maintain a socially approved sexual relationship and one or more children resulting from the sexual relationship.
Secondary School: This is post primary school education; students usually get admission through common entrance. These schools can be preparatory or terminal. It is preparatory for those students that have intention of going to higher institutions of learning, while it is terminal for those who want to be employed into the lower cadre of civil service.