CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Education in the largest sense is any act or experience that has a
formative effect on the mind, character or physical ability of an individual.
In its technical sense, education is the process by which society deliberately
transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to
another.

Research
findings have proven that there are many factors that affect the teaching and
learning process of the child. These findings have created a lot of doubt among
scholars as weather the school environment can influence the learning process
of the child. To understand this finding, it is important to define what school
environment means.

Orji (2016)
defined school environment as all the human and non-human materials that help
in the teaching and learning process, e.g. the human resources, the
instructional materials, the school facilities, etc. contribute seriously in
the teaching and learning process of the child. the quality of human resources
a school has can affect positively or negatively in the teaching and learning
process of the child. the quality of the school facilities available contribute
to the quality of the teaching and learning of the school system. The content
of instructions given by the teachers can improve the academic development of
the child.

In the
primary school, which is the foundation of the child’s educational development
has some challenges, which involves the influence of the school environment on
the pupils.

According
to Bosah (2017), the primary school system of education is confronted with some
problems relating to the influence of school environment on the academic
development of pupils. He stated clearly that school environment plays major
role on the academic development of the child.

The
foundation of education, which is the primary school in Nkanu East has been
confronted with series of school environmental challenges that has affected the
smooth-running of the programme.

In the
course of this research, we will access the extent at which the school
environment as influenced the academic development of the pupils, the extent of
the school environment and the aspect in which the school environment has
influenced the academic development of the pupils. What are the effects of poor
school environment poor school environment on the academic development of
pupils and ways to improve school environment, etc. The above research
questions will guide the researcher to do justice to the influence of school
environment on the academic development of the child in Nkanu East Local
Government Area.

Statement of the Problem

A child’s
school environment involves all the school plant or facilities that aid the
child to learn comfortably. But the story is different in Nkanu East Local
Government Area where some of the school plant or facilities are rarely
available. These facilities include school buildings, furniture, chalkboard,
electricity, office equipment, staff offices, computer centres, canteen, fields
and other sporting facilities. The above mentioned items are lacking in some of
the school in their Local Government Area. The students sometimes study under
the leaking roof, some study outside the classrooms, some classrooms carry more
capacity than they should. For any effective learning and study to take lace,
the instructional materials or teaching aids must be made available. Some
schools do not have good security network for the safety of the students and
the school’s property. The absence of the above facilities like school laboratory
has hampered teaching and learning. Students don’t have access to good books,
practicals are not carried out, students struggle with the rain and sunshine in
the course of their studies. These acts have disturbed the learning and
studying processes of the school. The computer system and other technological
devices that are used in the schools. This has affected the students’ score in
both internal and external examinations.

Therefore,
the school plant are fundamental materials that must be put aright of effective
teaching and learning.

It is
against this backdrop that the researcher wants to examine how the school
learning environment influence the academic performance in Nkanu East Local
Government Area of Enugu State.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose
is to investigate the effect of poor learning environment on the academic
performance of the primary school pupils in Nkanu East Local Government Area of
Enugu State.

Specifically,
the researcher will examine:

1.                
The extent the quality of physical learning environment
with regards to school buildings affect the academic performance of pupils in
primary schools in Nkanu East Local Government Area.

2.                
Determine the extent the library services affect the
academic performance of pupils.

3.                
Find out the extent school location affect the
academic performance.

4.                
Proffer solution on how the learning environment be
improved to influence pupils’ academic development.

Significance of the Study

The study
is very necessary in various ways; it will help the primary school child in his
life? The study will help parents and the government to know that their roles
and responsibilities are needed to enhance the primary school child’s
development.

It is an
opportunity for parents to minimize the size of their families as to be able to
provide necessary facilities to their children and also inculcate in them the
desire of quality children.

In
addition, parents from low-economic background will put efforts to increase
their earning as to take good care of their children and provide their physical
and mental needs. The researcher believes that after going through this work,
the government will know their responsibility in provision competent health
care centre, adequate care of primary education facilities and good employment
opportunities for the parents to enhance their children’s development.
Therefore, government is expected to make education free and compulsory in the country.

The
behavior of a young child, whether physical, emotional or social mainly depends
on maturation, the role of parents is largely let children grow by themselves,
since development and change come from within rather than from without under
these circumstances, whatever adults do, the children are taught of primary
significance.

Scope of the Study

The study
covered only the effect of the poor learning environment on the academic
development of the pupils in primary schools, with special reference to Nkanu
East Local Government Area of Enugu State.

Research Questions

In a bid to
undertake this research work, the researcher considered these questions very
necessary based on the purpose of the study:

1.       The extent the
quality of physical learning environment with regards to school buildings
affect the academic performance of pupils in primary schools in Nkanu East
Local Government Area.

2.       Determine the
extent the library services affect the academic performance of pupils.

3.       Find out the
extent school location affect the academic performance.

4.       Proffer
solution on how the school environment be improved to influence pupils’
academic development.