ABSTRACT

The study was designed to assess principals’ violation of students’ rights in secondary schools, in Kogi State Nigeria. It aims at finding out the extent to which the principals are aware of students rights, assess the extent to which students right to life, dignity of human person, right to personal liberty, right to fair hearing are being violated by principals. The design used for the study is descriptive survey. Six research questions and six hypotheses guided the study. The target population for the study was 47,388 students, teachers and principals from 345 schools in Kogi State. The sampled population was 6,191 comprising 138 principals, 1,794 teachers and 4,259 students from 138 sampled schools. The instrument used for the study was the (PASRVQ) Principals’ Awareness of Students’ Rights Violation Questionnaire. Means and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The internal constituency and reliability of the instrument was determined using Cronbach Alpha method. The reliability coefficient of the instrument obtained from cluster A-F is 0.83, 0.69, 0.81, 0.75, 0.92, and 0.87 respectively. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Scheffe test were used to test the null hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The study among others revealed that to a great extent principals are not generally aware of students rights and therefore violate students right to life, dignity of human person, right to personal liberty and right to fair hearing. Accordingly the study recommended that: principals should be made properly aware of students rights, through the conferences, seminars, workshops and further studies. School rules should be made public, school plant facilities should be made safe for use, students are to be given opportunity to express opinions and be involved in decision making process. Teacher capacity building curriculum should incorporate element of education law and human rights education should be incorporated in secondary school curriculum.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

               The school as a social institution has the social and constitutional responsibilities of educating the students and protecting them from the abuse of their rights and privileges. Effective students’ personnel administration demands that various administrative activities and services should be carried out by the school, within the established rules and regulations, in order to ensure total development of the students Bassey, Arop, Akpama & Ayang, (2012). This means that school administrators shall not only be knowledgeable about students’ rights, but should also be proficient in the protection and promotion of these rights (Nakpodia, 2011).

               The principal co-ordinates and ensures that the various process of administrative activities and services are carried out by the school within an established rules and regulations so as to ensure total development of the students in a given school. According to Nakpodia (2009) principals are also Teachers in Nigerian schools system, who in their position in-loco-parentis to the children in their charge act, reasonably in this capacity, provided their actions are in accordance with general and approved educational practice,,, The principal is the leader of secondary school or Chief Executive Officer of secondary school administration. Principals as leaders have the key for achieving sustainable enormous education reforms like accountability, standard, test, enhancing legal rights of students, site based management, school climate and turning schools into professional learning communities Fullan(2002). As leaders he manages the teachers, students and non-academic staff of the school. He develops and leads programmes. The principal sets high standards and knows how to motivate staff to achieve the desired goals. He works with people as a team and cherishes high decisional participation. The principal ensures teachers commitment to school task through an atmosphere of respect and trust.

Principals, according to Peretomode (1995) have a critical responsibility to direct and control the activities of the human and non human resources in order to achieve educational goals and objectives. He stated further that the present system of secondary education in Nigeria poses a lot of new challenges to the secondary school principal, and to meet these challenges, the school principal as an administrator will have to equip himself with the knowledge, skills and attitude which will make him proficient in his administrative and professional duties and help him achieve the goals of the institution.

Igwe (1990) also described the principal as that administrator who is supposed to have a proven quality and the knowledge to achieve his administrative roles as the chief custodian of their various schools. The Author stressed further that principals are the uncompromising leaders of their schools as well as administrators in whose hands lie the future of these institutions. Ogbonnaya (2003) in his related view sees the principal; as the chief executive charged with the day-to-day running of secondary schools in Nigeria. They implement the educational programmes in secondary schools, keep statutory records as well as create a conducive atmosphere for teaching and learning in schools. 

In view of all the above it is expected that the principal must be competent enough in his administrative duties, so as to ensure successful operation of secondary schools. In so doing he maintains educational standards and goals established by the policy makers, supervise and support students, monitor students educational moral progress, manage career counseling and other student services. Unfortunately, it is obvious that many challenges facing secondary schools today are traceable to principals, who as chief executives are expected to be in total control of all aspects of school administration. These challenges include the ability of principals: – to keep students motivated and safe in an increasely apathetic and violent school environment; to administer quality education to all students including those with special needs; to keep abreast of and implement modern reforms while introducing new technologies. Peretomode (1992) noted that many principals have abdicated their administrative roles. 

Violation is another term for an offence or an infringement. A violation is a breach, infringement, or transgression as of law, rule or promise. The term generally means an act of disobeying a law or a legal order. There are several categories of violations that exist at various levels of the legal system. These levels of violations include willful violation which is a violation in which the violator either knowingly failed to comply with a legal requirement or acted with plain indifference to safety of clients.   Serious violation exists when the environment for learning is in hazard condition which could cause an accident or illness that would most likely result in death or serious physical harm. Committing violations can result in a variety of consequences depending on the type of disobedient behaviour. When a person acts illegally he violates the law and may be held accountable (Wisegeek, 2013). Longman (2009) also sees violation as an action that breaks a law agreement or principles. Nakopodia (2011) stated that there are practices in the school system that tends to violate the fundamental human rights of students. He stated further that in section 32-42 of chapter IV of the 1999 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria is enshrined the fundamental human rights of the citizens. He therefore summarized that, it is of great importance that education administrators and teachers should have knowledge of the constitutional rights of the citizen and the knowledge of the students’ fundamental human rights. The trend of student right violation in public schools go to a large extent to reveal that violation of students rights are important variable that should be addressed. 

Secondary school is an educational institution meant for children over eleven years and above. In Nigeria, Britain, France, India, Canada and United State of America they exist to provide opportunity for education to enable students live a more perceptive and fulfilling life. The aim of secondary school education is to prepare students for useful living within the society and for higher institutions, to raise a generation of people who can think for themselves, respect the views and fillings of others, respect dignity of labour and live as good citizens. According to Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN, 2004), secondary education is the education children receive after primary education and before the tertiary stage. It has six years duration, the junior secondary stage and senior secondary stage. Each is of three years duration. The secondary education level occupies an important and critical position in the set up of the educational system as a transitional stage between basic and tertiary education. Ideally the secondary schools are to cater for the needs of educating and training middle level technicians and skilled workers.

According to Nkwoh (2011) who opined that secondary education occupies a strategic position in the national education system, that it bridges the gap between the primary and tertiary levels of education in Nigeria. He further stated that it absorbs the primary level and prepares them for the tertiary which is the manpower based of the nation. From the above view, the secondary school is an agent of socialization, an institution or a human industry established for refining human beings in terms of skills, behavior and all round excellence. To achieve the objective of secondary schools, an efficient and effective administrator must head such an institution. Most secondary schools are either owned by public or private whose managers are generally regarded as the principal and in Nigeria he heads the institutions. As stipulated in the Federal Republic of Nigeria (FRN 2004), secondary school system in Nigeria has the following objectives:

Provide an increasing number of school pupils with opportunity for education of a quality, irrespective of sex, or social, religious and ethnic background. Diversify its curriculum to cater for the differences in talents, opportunities and roles possessed by open to students after their secondary school course. Equip students to live effectively in our modern age of science and technology. Develop and project Nigeria culture art and languages as well as the world’s cultural heritage. Raise a generation of people who can think more themselves, respect the views and feelings of others, respect the dignity of labour, and appreciate those valves specified under our broad national aims and live as good citizens, foster Nigerian unity with an emphasis on the common ties that unite us in our diversity. Inspire its students with a desire for achievement and self improvement both at and her later life. In this regard the secondary education occupies a strategic position in the national education system. This implies that the secondary sector is the bridge between the primary and tertiary sectors. It absolves the products of primary education and also produces candidates for higher education as earlier stated. Pg. 18 – 19.

Upon enrolment, the student becomes a member of the school community and thereby accepts both the rights and responsibilities associated with that membership. As members of the school community, students have the rights either as citizens or students (Howe & Covel, 2000). Unfortunately, unlike in Canada, Britain and United States of America Peretomode (1992) observed that students in secondary school in Nigeria are not yet aware of their general rights let alone their right in classrooms or of challenging anybody who tries to deprive them of their rights. Such students legal rights includes right to life, personal liberty, dignity of human person, private life and fair hearing. In view of the increase in violation of students legal right in Nigerian secondary schools it becomes pertinent to carry out a study not only to acquaint students with knowledge of their rights but also for staff to become aware.  

               Administration constitutes the most important human activities of all organizations. Every human organization ranging from Educational Institutions to other industrial firms, churches and business enterprises need to be properly managed and administered for the achievement of stated objectives. Administration has to do with other concepts as leadership, authority, performance, productivity, planning, decision making and implementation.

The major area of administration that relates to this study is educational administration. According to Nwankwo (2011) educational administration is the arrangement of the human and material resources and programmes available for education and carefully using them systematically for the achievement of articulated objectives. This definition is in line with Edem (1982) who see educational administration as involving the planning and organization of activities and resources which aimed at fulfilling the goals of an educational institution. He further stated that these educational administrative activities includes describing activities to be performed to achieve certain objectives, assigning these tasks to carefully selected and trained personnel, making the personnel perform efficiently by using the tools provided for them, co-ordinating some formal structure, which permits a hierarchical allocation of responsibilities with a communication flow, in line with the fact that educational administration involves the planning, organization, coordination and control of human and material resources to attain pre-determined objectives. Igwe (2005) defines administration as a way of working with people and materials to accomplish the purpose of an enterprise. It is the act of mobilizing the efforts of a number of people in an establishment towards the achievement of a common goal. It is the guidance, leadership, and control of the effort of a group of individuals towards some common goal.     

Peretomode (1996) in his own view maintained that administration is concerned with the performance of policies and decision to fulfill day to day running of an organization. This definition implies that administration involves not just the implementation of policies and programmes of an organization but also its day to day functioning.    

School administration as it relates to this study involves all the processes through which resources are mobilized in educational institutions to accomplish the goals of education. It is a process of mobilizing school resources towards achievement of desirable educational goals. School administration is an activity process that requires expertise and training in educational principles and practices in ensuring proper management of school general activities for achieving results in education. Chima (2012) observed that: “There is wide assumption by many that school administration is an easy activity especially in small private institutions where a man and his wife operate a kindergarten, nursery or primary school without requisite knowledge on school administrative concepts that forms the background for effective running of school”.

This implies that for effective school administration, one has to be trained on the principles and practices of education as to understand the basic classroom instructional methods and management, trained on educational management concepts that provide administrative skills that model behaviours and motivation in achieving academic goals. It is obvious that most school today, have not meet the requirement of a good school in terms of administrative training, staff quality and quantity, infrastructural and instructional facilities thereby violating rights of students in achieving educational goals     

From the above articulated definition of administration by various authors, administration in relation to school implies therefore the process of planning, organizing, staffing, directing and co-ordinating the school activities; both human and material resources towards the realization of educational goals. It is the principals’ ability to harness the resources within and outside the school environment for the purpose of realizing the school objectives.

Assessment involves the use of empirical data on student learning to refine programmes and improve student learning. Assessment is the process of gathering and discussing information from multiple and diverse sources in order to develop a deep understanding of what students know, understand, and can do with their knowledge as a result of their educational experiences: the process culminates with assessment results which are used to improve subsequent learning.

Assessment is the systematic basis for making inferences about the learning and development of students. It is the process of defining, selecting, designing, collecting, analyzing, interpreting and using information to increase students learning and development. Assessment is also the systematic collection, review, and use of information about educational programmes emanating from the purpose of improving students learning and development (Palomba & Banta, 1999). They further maintain that the term “assessment” may be defined in multiple ways by different individuals or institutions, perhaps with different goals. To them it is the action or an instance of assessing, a systematic collection, review and use of information about educational programs undertaken for the purpose of improving student learning and development. Assessment from the above is an ongoing process aimed at understanding and improving student learning. It has to involve making our expectations explicit and public, setting appropriate criteria and high standards for learning quality, systematically, gathering, analyzing and interpreting evidence to determine how well performance matches those expectations and standards, and using the resulting information to document, explain and improve performance.

Rights have been generally described as the liberty of a person to act or abstain from acting in a certain manner. Arop (2009) defined human rights as freedoms and entitlements granted to man by reason of his being human, which also constitute the inherent and inalienable rights that all men without discrimination or deprivation are entitled to, in protection of their human dignity. The rights are applicable to everyone, irrespective of age, sex, religion, and any other factors. Right may also mean that, to which a person has a just and valid claim, whether it is a property or privilege of doing or saying something.

In Nigeria, these rights are designated as Fundamental Human Rights, and are entrenched in the constitution (FRN, 1999) as rights to life, right to personal liberty, right to freedom of religion, right to freedom of expression, right to peaceful assembly and association and right to freedom from discrimination. The above implies that the rights of students are also protected by law. Infact, in the past, school based problem were viewed as domestic issues and were therefore, usually settled out of court. Today, the situation is changing owing to the growing complexity of educational management, increasing politicization of education and citizen’s greater awareness of their constitutional, legal and fundamental human rights. Consequently, school administrators are now being caught up and confronted with the legal implications of their job. Furthermore, the ‘in-loco-parentis’, (in place of the parents) status of school administrators and teachers endows them the statutory responsibilities making them answerable to parents of the student, to their employer and to the society especially where their negligent conduct results to students injury, disability, or death. Example of principal/teacher-students conflict that was referred to Nigeria court includes those involving: Akinjide vs Demola, Boniface Ujonkwu vs Idike Nwonkwo and the State vs Principals. In particular, the repulsive case of Miss Grace Okon Akpan, a 12 yr form 1 students of Duke Town Secondary School, Calabar Cross State, who was flogged by her teacher to a state of unconsciousness and ultimate death (Peretomode, 1992). Also are cases of barring students from writing an external examination the students had duly registered for, it is also common to find trend to human life in school premises as a result of dirty and bushy environment infested with reptiles, dilapidated buildings, and overcrowded classrooms which constitute high risk and health hazards.