CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of Study
Education aims at character building and training for the
society. Education in itself is a cultural process where a newborn individual
is transformed into a full member of a given society (Cotton, 2000). Before the
introduction of formal education in Nigeria, people were trained and educated.
The colonialists described this type of education and training as informal.
Much as it lacked defined institutions of learning, teachers, blackboards,
pencils and books, it was however designed to create an ideal individual who
would fully fit into and be accepted by the society. Therefore discipline and
respect were emphasized.
According to Ezewu
(1986), instruction in the informal education type used to take place at around
the fireplace after the evening meal, which was an indication of good time
management consideration or whenever a child committed an offence. Through
stories, tales and riddles, the mother or grand mother would alert the children
to what society expected of them as they grew up. Some societies used capital
punishments to alert the young generations to the gravity of particular cases
of indiscipline and immorality (Okumbe, 1998).
Punishments therefore
varied according to the weight of the offence as it was viewed by a given
society. This education was all round process, which catered for all facets of
the individual. All that was taught was geared towards the creation of an ideal
individual who would ably fit into the society in which he/she was born and
lived. The young were therefore taught the rules and regulations of society.
The whole system of
traditional training and educating of the young generation was discouraged by
the introduction of colonial formal type of education in Nigeria by the missionaries.
According to Okoro (1994), the Christian missionaries arrived in the country in
1877. These missionaries established schools whereby the education system was
changed which mainly emphasized reading, writing and religion (Nsereko, 1997).
Later the liberal arts were also emphasized along with strong emphasis on
discipline that embraced school rules and regulations as well as punishments to
offenders as a measure of guiding students‟ behavior in schools (Agwi, 1993).
According to the Ministry
of Education (2005), the number of functional school was at increase from 2002
as a result of the good governance, new education policies and political
stability in the country. The education system had a double shift mode of
studying in some secondary school where some students used to study during the
afternoon while the other students studied in the morning. This assisted to
create a balance between students to teacher, as required by the Ministry of
Education. The level of discipline in classes and schools at large could easily
be managed then and the level of indiscipline though existed, was not so strange.
The only existing schools by then were government funded schools. Where
admissions were centralized and thus dismissed students could not easily access
other schools without recommendations from previous schools. Students therefore
had to maintain discipline for fear of not easily accessing new schools. Most
of these schools were day schools where parents could also participate in
keeping a watch over their children’s behaviors at home. Many Nigerian have
been going through this education system for a number of decades.
Nigeria as a partner of
the Education for all (EFA) coalition launched Universal Primary Education
(UPE) in 1997. This resulted into increased enrollment figures (Ministry of
Education 2005). This also increased capacity for secondary schools enrollment.
Even though this was followed by a drastic increase in the number of teachers
and classrooms, the current official average pupil-to-teacher ratio is 51:1.
According to Naka et al., (2007), the reality is that in many classrooms in
various schools across the country, there are over 70 pupils in one class. This
creates more challenges to teachers for effective teaching and learning that
involves enforcing discipline.
Research carried out over
the years has done much to bring in focus the reasons why smaller classes may
lead to improved students‟ outcome than large classes. Reasons include easier and
regular discussions with students, timely and frequent feedback to students and
active problem solving (Bennett, 1996; Race, 1998). With the ever increasing
number of students in schools, the student to teacher ratio has increased making
it hard for teachers to effectively and efficiently manage students ‘discipline
and thus the increasing number of students’ aggressive behaviors, loitering of
students during class time, an indication of violation of school rules and
regulations. Dismissed students from one school can easily be admitted in
another school no matter whether he/she has a recommendation from the previous
school or not. This does not necessitate students to maintain discipline while
at school.
Some schools have changed
to boarding section as a way of coping up with the increasing stiff competition
among students and schools as well as for national level exams. This has also
resulted into students spending more time in schools than with parents where
they are suspected to get adapted to all various kinds of behaviors such as
homosexuality, smoking, abuse of substances, and use of nasty words among other
things. There is also concern that indiscipline has taken new forms with
increased violence, sale and consumption of drugs, theft, disrespect of school
rules and regulations which has resulted into wide spread corporal punishments,
students‟ expulsion and suspension
from schools, cases of arsons are on the increase in schools, problems which go
beyond educational institutions. This has attracted serious attention from
scholars and administrators as well as education stakeholders about the academic
performance from such undisciplined students and therefore created a need,
which called for this study.
According to Okumbe
(1998), discipline is the action by management to enforce organizational
standards. Bahemuka (1998) defines discipline as a means to bring control,
train to obedience and order or drill. Cotton (2000), defines school discipline
as a form of discipline appropriate to the regulation of children and the
maintenance of order in the school. However in this study, discipline was conceptualized
as the observance of school rules and regulations, time management and the
administration of punishments.
Academic performance in
this study was perceived as the degree of achievement by students in their
class assessment tests, beginning of term exams, mid-term exams, terminal and
national examinations. Thomas and Marshall (1999), described performance as
action of a person or a group when given a learning task. In education,
performance is often presented as synonymous with academic achievement or
attainment, in carrying out of a task, course or assignment. Derek (1981),
argued that academic performance is the measured ability and achievement level
of a learner in a school, subject or particular skills. Therefore academic
performance has to do with a learner’s scholastic ability and attainment, as
regards his or her work and this is often measured through tests, exams, course
works and assignments.
Hawes (1982), shared the
same idea with Derek (1981), and defined achievement as successful accomplishment
of performance in a particular subject, area and course usually by reasons of
skill, hard work and interest typically realized in various types of grades and
marks. According to Rosen (1997) and Slee (1995), discipline includes a branch
of knowledge, training that develops self-control, character, orderliness or
efficiency, strict control to enforce obedience and treatment that controls or
punishes and a system of rules and regulations. Good discipline is considered
to be one of the major attributes of effective schools and many failing schools
have been blamed for lack of discipline (Rosen, 1997).
Punishment is defined as
inflicting retribution on or for an offence (Okumbe, 1998). Punishments are
necessary if rules and regulations are to be enforced. This may be through
inflicting blows on an opponent, abuse or treat severely or improperly. Horny
(1993) defined punishment as penalty inflicted on some body that has done
wrong. This can be done through inflicting harm or any physical pain or psychological.
Also to harm a person means to deprive the person of what he/she otherwise has
a right to have, do or enjoy.
1.2 Theoretical Background
of Study
This study on school discipline and academic performance was
guided by theory X and Y advanced by McGregor. Theory X postulates that workers
or employees are lazy and will always avoid responsibility. To achieve high
performance, there is a need to coerce, control and even threaten them (Okumbe,
1998). Theory Y postulates that employees are human beings and therefore the
role of a manager is to provide an enabling environment that enable employees
to realize the potential they are endowed with. McGregor’s theory was adopted
for this study because there are cases where teachers and students just do not
want to follow a set code of behavior in an educational organization despite
the application of various leadership skills like using set rules and
regulations as well as punishments to both deter and retribute the offenders
(Okumbe, 1998).
Ideally, a school must
lead the rest of the society in knowledge and understanding of the process of
human growth and development and socialization of children (Osire, 1993). This
means that a school has a unique position in the society as a socializing
agent, inculcating conformity, self-control and obedience in the child. However
in Nigeria of the 21st century, there is a general out cry in the whole country
raising concern from the public about the increasing cases of indiscipline
among students in secondary schools. Several reports have been published in the
electronic and print media indicating the extent of the problem.
Drug abuse among students
has also been stated as one of the causes of indiscipline in schools within the
country. The pressure to excel was cited as one of the foremost reasons why
students have turned to drugs (Kabandize, 2004). It was also noted that some
methods of punishments are degrading and crush self-esteem and the creativity
of children (Mpiso, 2004). With such wide spread fires, the academic performance
of students is likely to be affected and this called for the need of this
study. Therefore a critical analysis of these reported cases, demonstrates that
discipline problems are becoming a constant concern for educators. A lot of
time is lost trying to attend to the misbehavior rather than attend to the
learning aspect of the lessons. The consequence is the suspected serious
disruption of lessons, time is wasted in observing detentions and a lot more,
all of which tends to have an effect on students‟ academic performance and
thus relevance of the study.
1.3 Statement of the
problem
Schools play an important
role in the socialization process of the young people from where they learn to
regulate their own conduct, respect towards others, manage their time
responsibly and thus becoming responsible citizens (Tait, 2003). However the
current situation in Nigeria’s education system has
been hit by a wave of indiscipline among students which is escalating rapidly with notable
strikes, bullying, arson cases in schools, vandalism of school property,
general refusal to follow school rules and regulations as well as increasing
alcoholism (Epata, 2008). An increasing number of secondary school head
teachers and teachers are reporting a wide range of potentially disruptive
behaviors in the classrooms and around the schools. Many students are seen
loitering in town streets, villages, cinema halls and other places in their
uniforms but during class time, an indication of disrespect to school rules and
regulations as well as poor time management. This has therefore created a big
concern from teachers, head teachers and stakeholders about the lack of
opportunity for learners to concentrate on their academic work for attainment
in the tests, internal exams and national level examinations as well as the
nature of future citizens. The effect of this increasing trend of indiscipline
on students‟
academic performance countrywide therefore remains unknown, and thus a need for
this study.
1.4 Purpose of the study
The purpose of the study was to establish the influence of
discipline management by head teachers on students’ academic performance in secondary schools in Calabar South
Local Government Area.
The study was guided by the following objectives;
1.
To establish how the administration of school rules and
regulations by head teachers affect students’ academic performance
2.
To establish how the observance of time management by head teachers
affect students’ academic performance.
3.
To analyze how the administration of punishments by head
teachers affect students‟ academic performance.
PLEASE PAY FOR THE COMPLETE VERSION
THE COMPLETE PROJECT IS CHAPTER 1-5 #4,000 ONLY
PAYMENT PROCEDURE;
BANK: FIRST BANK
ACCOUNT NAME: EGBE JOHN EDOGI
ACCOUNT NO: 3034851408
GTBANK
ACCOUNT NAME: EGBE JOHN EDOGI
ACCOUNT NO: 0122005571
PLEASE AFTER PAYMENT SEND THE TELLER NUMBER AND YOUR NAME THE WAY IT APPEAR IN THE TELLER TO ANY OF THE FOLLOWING PHONE NUMBER:
08037940241
08183133884
YOU WILL RECEIVE YOUR MATERIAL IN YOUR EMAIL BOX WITHIN 24 HOURS AFTER PAYMENT. THANKS FOR DOING BUSINESS WITH US.
No comments:
Post a Comment