THE EFFECTS OF
POVERTY ON THE ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF STUDENTS IN GUSHEGU MIDWIFERY COLLEGE
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND
TO THE STUDY
Over the past decades, the unfortunate
reality is that the income gap has widened between Nigerian families.
Educational outcomes are one of the key areas influenced by family income.
Children from low-income families often start school already behind their peers
who come from more affluent families. The incidence, depth, duration and timing
of poverty all influence a child’s educational performance, along with
community characteristics and social networks (Evan, 2004). However, both
Nigerian and international organizations have shown that the effects of poverty
can be reduced using sustainable interventions.
Meanwhile, poverty remains a stubborn fact of
life even in rich countries. According to Harris (2006) complex web of social
relationships student experience with peers, adults in the school and family
members exerts a much greater influence on their academic performance. This
process starts with student core relationship with parents or primary
caregivers in their lives, which form a personality that is either secure and
attached or insecure and unattached. Securely attached children perform better
in school (Bali, Granger, Kivlighan, Mills-Koonce, Willongby & Greeberg,
2008). Once students are in school, the dual factors of socialization and
social status contribute significantly to academic achievement. The school
socialization process typically pressure student to be like their peer or risk
social rejection, whereas the quest for high social status drives students to
attempt to differentiate themselves in some areas, for example, socio-economic
status forms a huge part in this equation. Children raised in poverty rarely
choose to behave differently, but are faced daily with overwhelming challenges
that affluent children never have to confront and their brains have adapted to
suboptimal conditions in ways that undermine good school performance.
The human conditions which we might classify
as being in poverty have a long history with a variety of interpretations;
these conditions are influenced by a number of factors including resources,
contemporary standards and public perceptions of what is minimally acceptable
(Evans, 2004).
One of the social issue facing students of
poverty is emotional trauma. The emotional climate can often be very stressful
and emotionally depriving. The lack of emotional nurturing can lead to feelings
of alienation, inadequacy, depression and anxiety. Aggressive or impulsive behaviour
and social withdrawal can also result, which in turn can affect their academic performance.
However, the overall goal of this study is to provide an insight into the influence
of poverty on student academic performance.
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
Strong, secure relationships devoid of
poverty and lack help stabilize children’s emotionally and provide the core
guidance needed to build lifelong social skills. Children who grew up with such
relationships learn healthy, appropriate emotional responses to everyday
situations. But children raise in poor homes often fail to learn these
responses, to the detriment of their school performance. For example, students
with emotional instability may get so easily frustrated that they give up on a
task when success was just moments away. Social dysfunction may inhibit
students’ ability to work well in cooperative groups, quite possibly leading to
their exclusion by group members who believe they aren’t “doing their part” or
“pulling their share of load”. This exclusion and the accompanying decrease in
collaboration and exchange of information exacerbate at risk students’ already
shaky academic performance. However, the researcher is examining the effects of
poverty on the academic performance of the students in Gushegu Midwivery
College.
1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The
following are the objectives of this study:
1. To
examine the
effects of poverty on the academic performance of the students in Gushegu
Midwivery College.
2. To
identify other factors affecting the academic performance of the students of Gushegu Midwivery College.
3. To determine the factors encouraging poverty
in the society.
1.4 RESEARCH
QUESTIONS
1. What
are the
effects of poverty on the academic performance of the students in Gushegu
Midwivery College?
2. What
are the other factors affecting the academic performance of the students of Gushegu Midwivery College?
3. What are the factors encouraging poverty in
the society?
1.5 HYPOTHESIS
HO:
There is no significant relationship between poverty and student’s academic
performance
HA:
There is significant relationship between poverty and student’s academic
performance
1.6 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
The
following are the significance of this study:
1. The
result of this study will educate the general public on the effects of poverty
on the performance of students.
2. This
research will be a contribution to the body of literature in the area of the
effect of personality trait on student’s academic performance, thereby
constituting the empirical literature for future research in the subject area.
1.7 SCOPE/LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY
This
study will cover the poverty level and its effect on the performance of the
students of Gushegu midwivery college.
LIMITATION OF STUDY
Financial constraint– Insufficient fund tends to impede the
efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature
or information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire
and interview).
Time constraint– The researcher will
simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently
will cut down on the time devoted for the research work.
REFERENCES
Harris, J. R. (2006). No Two Alike: Human Nature and Human
Individuality. New York:
W.W. Norton.
Evans, G. W. (2004). The environment of
childhood poverty. American
psychologist, 39(5),
924-933.
Bleir, C., Granger, D. A., Kivlighan, K. T.,
Mills-Koonce, R., Willonghby, M. & Greenberg,
M. T. (2008). Maternal and child
contributions to certisol response to emotional
arousal in young children from low-income,
rural communities. Developmental
Psychology, 44(4), 1095-1109.