CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Education is considered imperative for not only the progress of the individuals, but also for the development of community and nation (Radihka 2018). Education is one of the imperative aspects that not only inculcates the essential skills, abilities and knowledge among the individuals, but also leads to overall growth and progress of the individuals, community and nation as a whole. An educated person is not only able to accomplish his desired goals and objectives, but is also able to render an efficient contribution towards the well-being of the community. The inculcation of academic knowledge, skills, abilities and proficiency among the individuals is enhanced through learning and academic performance. In secondary schools, there are numerous factors that contribute an important part in enhancing the academic performance of students.

The academic performance determines the future goals and objectives of students. What subject they will specialize in colleges and universities, which educational institutions they will get enrolled into, what career opportunities they would take up and so forth. The determinants of academic performance of the students include, class participation, class assignments, homework assignments, tests, examinations, and participation in competitions or other events. The pressure of the parents and other individuals upon teachers and school administrators to improve the academic performance has enabled schools to come up with advanced strategies. These include, promoting extra classes for students, introducing effective teaching-learning methods and instructional strategies, using technology, rewarding students for good performance serves as a motivating factor and when they achieve low grades, than they usually tend to work more to make improvements (Nyagosia, 2011). The quality of students’ performance remains at top priority for educators. It is meant for making a difference locally, regionally, nationally and globally. Educators, trainers, and researchers have long been interested in exploring variables contributing effectively for quality of performance of learners. These variables are inside and outside school that affect students’ quality of academic achievement. These factors may be termed as student factors, family factors, school factors and peer factors (Crosnoe, Johnson & Elder, 2004). The formal investigation about the role of these demographic factors rooted back in 17th century (Mann, 1985). Generally these factors include age, gender, geographical belongingness, ethnicity, marital status, socioeconomic status (SES), parents’ education level, parental profession, language, income and religious affiliations. These are usually discussed under the umbrella of demography (Ballatine, 1993).

In a broader context demography is referred to as a way to explore the nature and effects of demographic variables in the biological and social context. Unfortunately, defining and measuring the quality of education is not a simple issue and the complexity of this process increases due to the changing values of quality attributes associated with the different stakeholders’ view point (Blevins, 2009; Parri, 2006). Besides other factors, socioeconomic status is one of the most researched and debated factor among educational professionals that contribute towards the academic performance of students. The most prevalent argument is that the socioeconomic status of learners affects the quality of their academic performance. Most of the experts argue that the low socioeconomic status has negative effect on the academic performance of students because the basic needs of students remain unfulfilled and hence they do not perform better academically (Adams, 1996). The low socioeconomic status causes environmental deficiencies which results in low self-esteem of students (US Department of Education, 2003). More specifically, this study aims to identify and analyze factors that affect the quality of students’ academic performance.

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Social and economic mobility is a function of a good educational qualification of which an effective management of secondary schools plays a fundamental role. A good secondary education, either from the public or private schools, backed with complete O/Level papers, qualifies the candidate for admission into tertiary institutions in Nigeria. This is the aspirations of most parents and secondary schools students. Succinctly, it has been observed that the secondary education system in Nigeria is to an extent not achieving its predetermined goals and objectives due to the problems of high rate of failures in public examinations.

Researches have shown that there has been public outcry on students’ poor performance in Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations. However, it is observed that parents believed that private secondary schools are of higher academic quality than the public secondary schools. This can be buttressed on the basis that, in spite of government assistance and low rate of tuition fees charged in public secondary schools, a lot of parents/guardians still desire that their children attend private secondary schools. In view of the above backdrops, the elements of the problem of this study, border on the factors that positively influences students’ academic performance of secondary schools in Nigeria.