CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background to the Study

From independence, the secondary school system of education in Nigeria experienced a high level of discipline. The attitudes and behavior of secondary school students was worthy of emulation. In recent times, the high level of discipline experienced in our secondary school system has drastically declined resulting in all kinds of social vices including drug abuse. That is the reason the researcher has decided to find out the relationship between drug abuse and tone of discipline in secondary schools in Owan East Local Government Area of Edo State. The importance of discipline in our secondary schools cannot be over-emphasized. Students are priceless assets and most essential elements in education. It is absolutely necessary to direct students to exhibit acceptable attitude and behavior within and outside the school. In an attempt to achieve an organized and peaceful school environment and maintain law and order, government and school management specify rules and regulations to guide the activities of students in the school. Schools’ indiscipline seems to be ubiquitous in the 21st century in Nigeria.

Students’ discipline is a part of socialization. With recent increase in school enrollment, students discipline problems are bound to accentuate and cause more burdens on school administrators. Teachers and school heads are equally expected to discharge their duties and responsibility in the context of the laws, rules and regulations. The education system in general is a productive undertaking with inputs process, outputs and objectives. The processing of the inputs is aimed at producing outputs which reflect the attainment of the objectives for which the school was set up. The harmonious interaction of teachers and students is very important for the successful realization of the goals and purposes of education based on National Policy on Education. What then is discipline? Imaguezor (1997) sees discipline as a process of training and learning that fosters growth and development with laid down rules of the society to which all members must conform, and the violation of which are questionable and also punished. The aim of discipline is to help the individual to be well adjusted, happy and useful to himself and to the society. To be discipline means to instruct a person to follow a particular code of conduct that is acceptable to the society.

Discipline, according to Jemibewon (1976) is a highly desirable quality of human being or social group. Disciplined behavior is accepted as essential characteristics of any educated or cultured persons. Discipline, therefore, is a subject of great concern to parents, teachers and administrators who are interested in the moulding of the character of students in the secondary school system. In Nigeria, there appears to be a great concern about the lack of discipline in our schools. However, the problem of widespread indiscipline among primary school pupils and secondary school students is clearly noticed. Every year serious cases of rioting, arson, and damages to school property occur in many schools. IN spite of the extreme cases of indiscipline that attract newspapers headlines, there are routine cases of truancy, disobedience, absenteeism, drug abuse, fighting and other examples of indiscipline in the classroom which do not appear or are not reported in newspapers. Indiscipline among students in the secondary schools has attracted much attention from parents who blame teachers for the indiscipline among school pupils and students, from teachers who blame the parents for not playing their roles as pares and also government and school administrators for improper legislation and enforcement of school rules and regulations. Nigeria, like every other nation wants to live in peace and harmony with her fellow country people regardless of their various ethnic groups and religious affiliation.

Today, education has contributed and attracted increased government’s attention among other priorities. If education will continue to attract government attention, then, discipline must be maintained in our secondary schools and the school system in general since learning and teaching cannot effectively take place under a threatened atmosphere. Today, acts of indiscipline: riot, vandalism, lawlessness and the breakdown of law and order has become a way of life of our present school system. What then could be responsible for these acts of indiscipline in our school system? World Health Organization (WHO, 1980) expert committee on drug dependence defined drug abuse as “a state psychic and sometimes also physical resulting from the interaction between a drug and a living organism characterized by behavioural and other responses that always include a compulsion to take the drug on a continuous or periodic basis in how to experience its psychic effects and sometimes to avoid discomfort of its absence, tolerance may be dependent on more than one drug. There may be physiological changes produced in the body as a result of continued consumption of a particular drug.