Abstract

The major aim of this study was to investigate the Impact Of Insecurity On Academic Performances Of Secondary School Students In Benue State, Nigeria. A total of 1000 made up of 500 each of male and female students responded to a self-structured validated questionnaire designed for the study. Four  research questions and two hypotheses were formulated to guide the study. Means and standard deviations were calculated to answer the research questions and independent samples t-tests were used for testing the hypotheses. Major findings revealed that insecurity of school environment significantly affects the academic performance of secondary school students while students’ gangsterism, smoking of Indian hemp, abusing other hard drugs, cult and related violent activities were some of the factors that constituted insecurity of the school environment which eventually cause boys to leave school and join trading while leading girls to drop out and settle for marriage. Based on the findings, it was recommended that owners of schools and other stakeholders in education should take bold steps to fence and protect school environments from intruders to ensure safety of the students

CHAPTER ONE/INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the Study

Insecurity in schools has been studied in diverse ways in the literature. For instance, in most sub-Saharan African countries, insecurity in schools has been studied at the state level, especially where the state uses its repressive mechanisms to quell student rioters and put student leaders in prison under torture (O’Malley 2007). On the other hand, in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Palestine, focus has been on attacks on educators as well as how wars can stop children from getting an education (O’Malley 2007). For example in countries like Afghanistan and Palestine, statistics have recounted numbers of teachers killed as a result of violent conflict and abductions (Human Rights Watch 2006). In North America and Europe, the interest in schools and insecurity has mostly been directed at war-torn countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan and Iraq. In these countries, O’Malley writes, “schools, places that should be safe for children, have increasingly become the prime target of attacks by armed parties” (2007, 7).

Insecurity has been identified as being an anathema to education patronage and development. (Hausler, Urban & McCorquodale, 2011; The World Bank, 2011; Abdulrasheed, Onuselogu & Obioma, 2015) as neighbourhood become insecure (Abdulrasheed, Onuselogu & Obioma, 2015); and schools and colleges are looted, destroyed and abandoned, teachers assassinated, scholars threatened, and students recruited as child soldiers (Hausler, Urban & McCorquodale, 2012; Jones & Naylon, 2014).

The 2011 World Bank Development Report found that people in fragile and conflict-affected states are more than three times as likely to be unable to send their children to school as those in other developing countries. Access to education has been identified as the panacea to the ‘persistent challenges of insecurity facing Nigeria’ (Ndoma-Egba, 2014). In the same vein, falling education coupled with illiteracy have been identified as the main cause of insecurity in the northeastern part of Nigeria (Asaolu, 2012; 2015, Murray-Bruce, 2013). Although Nigeria has the world’s worst record of having some 10 million children out of school, with nine out of these ten millions coming from the North (Nyesom Wike quoted in Naij.com, 2015), data on prevailing literacy level in Northeastern Nigeria suggest that basic education has been experiencing serious problems in the region before the insurgences. For instance, basic education in Borno State were shown to had shortage of classes for teaching and learning, shortage of instructional materials and teachers (NUT, 2007); teachers’ salaries were not paid, leading to frequent strike by basic school teachers (NUT, 2008). As at 2013, Yobe and Borno have the highest illiteracy levels in the country. A whopping 83.3% of boys over 6 and adult men in Yobe state have no formal Western education. The figure for Borno which is number two on the list is 63.6%.

 

The concept of insecurity connotes the state or quality of being insecure. Security in simple terms means protection of lives and properties from destruction. According to Onifode, Imhonopl and Uorim (2013) security is the dynamic condition which involves the relative ability of a state to counter threats to its core values and interest and their primary beneficiaries are the citizens. In addition, sharing the view Abraham Maslow, Iyenger (1977) stated that an insecure person perceives the world as a life threatening jungle, feels unsafe, unhappy, rejected, hostile, and pessimistic, shows a sign of tension, conflict and guilt, and tends to be neurotic and generally egocentric. It therefore seems that when a student studies in an environment that is characterized by insecurity, the student may suffer socially, mentally and emotionally and it makes sense hypothetically to state that all these are likely to affect not only his behavior and psychosocial adjustment but may also affect his academic performance.

According to Ojukwu and Nwanma (2015), insecure school environment, including the dilapidated conditions and teachers’ negative attitude to condone and accept the emotional needs of students, which will lead to undue influences and clashes of a local community interfering with school business. Also, they stated that in insecure school environments the psychological problems of the students are never met or carelessly handled, there are always segregations in the school community along religions, tribal and sectarian lines as students may ignore teachers’ directives and may also challenge the teachers on certain concepts and school properties may likely be deliberately damaged by the students to show their disapproval of managements decisions (Ojukwu & Nwanma, 2015).

Also Ojukwu and Nwanma (2015) reported that in a school environment characterized by insecurity, lateness is the norm in school and students are allowed to freely use handsets and phones. Annually, the external results of the school are always bad as a result of poor teaching climate of the school as having been shown by 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 WAEC results cited above. Other instances of insecurity of the school environment include that sometimes female staff and students complain of being raped or impregnated leading to school dropout (Ojukwu & Nwanma, 2015). Also, parents complain that their children are bullied and injured and the classrooms are overcrowded, poorly ventilated and lit (Ghazi, Shahzada, Tariq & Khan, 2013). The above painted school environment may most likely affect students’ academic performance.

      1.2 Statement of the Problem

Recently major stakeholders in Education such as government, industries, communities, parents, schools even students and many others have been lamenting over the poor quality of Nigerian students in both learning and character suggesting a poor academic performance. Researchers and authors have speculated reasons for the failure on the part of the Nigerian students in secondary schools including those in Benue state to acquire the necessary social, psychological and academic skills to cope with demands of life and living in and outside the school. Their findings and suggestions tend to point at those issues which tend to waste students’ time and then have false notions about true life situations. Others have focused on teaching and learning materials as well as students themselves. An area that seems to have been neglected by past researchers is the effect insecurity of school environment will have on the academic performance of the secondary school students. Educators have long emphasized that many students perform poorly in their academic work not because they do not possess the mental ability to do well. An area that seems to have been neglected by researchers is the issue of insecurity of the school environment and the effect it could have on the academic performance of the secondary school students.

According to Ojukwu and Nwanma (2015), since the inception of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, insecurity has become a major issue of concern to every citizen. On a daily basis the media has continued to highlight and discuss incessant cases of armed robbery, kidnapping, bombings, abductions, rape, cultic activities and a high rise in ethnic and communal clashes, which have become regular occurrences and have characterized life in Nigeria (Nwangwa, 2014). Media report are awash with the number of lives lost as a result of terrorist, insurgent and other attacks that seem to be alarming. As if some places in the country can be walled off from the negative impact of insecurity, our academic (schools) institutions have also become hot spots where cases of insecurity are recorded (Ojukwu & Nwanma, 2015). The main interest, motivation and problem of this study therefor is to investigate the effect of the insecurity of the school environment on the academic performance of secondary school students in Benue state

1.3 Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the study were to:

1. Determine the factors that constitute insecurity of the school environment that may influence academic performance.
2. Determine the effect of insecurity on the academic performance of secondary school students in Benue state.
3. Determine the statistical significance of the difference between the environment of insecurity of rural and urban secondary schools in Benue state.
4. Investigate the statistical significance of the difference between male and female students academic performance due to insecurity of the school environment in Benue state.

   1.4 Research Question

The following research questions were raised to guide the study.

1. What are the factors that constitute insecurity of the school environment t in Benue state?
2. What effect does school environment have on academic performance of secondary school students in Benue state?
3. what are Determine the statistical significance of the difference between the environment of insecurity of rural and urban secondary schools in Benue state?.
4. What are the statistical significance of the difference between male and female students academic performance due to insecurity of the school environment in Benue state?

1.5 Hypotheses

Insecurity of  does not significantly affect the academic performance of secondary school students in Benue state.

Ho₁:   There is no significant difference in the insecurity of the school environment between secondary schools in rural and urban areas in Benue state.

Ho₂:   There is no significant difference between male and female students’ academic performance due to the insecurity of school environment in Benue state.

1. 6 Significance of the Study

Considerable attempts may have been made at researching on some variables or factors affecting students’ academic performance but little or none has focused on the effect of insecurity on the academic performance of secondary school students. Also, given the wide ranging effects of students’ poor academic performance and its concomitant social and destructive emotional effects on the students, parents, society and the nation It is appropriate and should be a welcome development to investigate the effect of insecurity of the school environment on the academic performance of secondary school students with the view of proffering solutions for a better performance by students.

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Corruption and Education Development in Nigeria: An assessment of the role of political science as an academic discipline

Background to the study

When people talk about corruption, usually they refer to public fund siphoned or misappropriated by civil servant, contractor, politician etc. Hardly do they think of the type of corruption that destroys the minds of our children and siphons the moral values of our society. This refers to the monumental corruption that is taking place in our educational circle. This type of corruption is more dangerous and more serious threat to the future of the young Nigerians in primary, post-primary school and higher institutions of the higher learning. There is no doubt that educational institutions in any country are the industry in which future leaders, thinkers, politicians, teachers, and workers are produced. In Nigeria, this industry has deteriorated to the extent that in place of being an agent of purifying the minds of our children to become useful members of our society, the industry is now diverting the mind of the children away from what education is all about to examination malpractice. Therefore, if urgent care is not taken the future of the country is bleak as far as any meaningful development is concerned (Balarabe, n.d.).

            It has long been observed that our graduates are no more measure up to the standards of both internal and external evaluators. What has not been very clear in this discourse are among others: 1) the actual level of the deterioration at various levels of our educational systems 2) the rate at which the attitude of our students is changing negatively towards education 3) the rate at which parents are struggling hard – willingly and knowingly to help their children get grades and certificates devoid of the requisite knowledge 4) the level of deterioration of the moral values of  the custodians of knowledge (teachers and lecturers) to the extent that they are now certifying that someone is knowledgeable while they know he is not, and 5) the level of government negligence to education and the role of that in the deterioration of the system. These are areas that need thorough investigation (Balarabe, n.d.).

            The Nigerian educational circle has become an open field harboring corrupt practices that rankles among players such as policy makers, bureaucrats in various educational ministries and school officials responsible for the school management, parents and students. The sector is marked by infrastructural decays, inefficient and poorly skilled teachers, and dilapidated school structures etc., fueled by general apathy by government to education (Auwal, 2013). However, corruption is the social problem that has interested many research scholars. To Ruzindana (1999), it is an asset in Africa which has created a problem of routine decorator from established standards, norms by public officials and parties with whom they interact. According to Wike (2014) it is a serious damage in education circle because it endangers a country’s social economic and political future.Also, the quality of education students received under this dreadful atmosphere is highly appalling. The standard dropped to the extent that the minimal score for Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, has drastically dropped to 180 as against 200 out of 400 total score in the years back. It is an open secret that students hire machineries to pass standard examinations in secondary schools. Invigilators are also not left out in this gruesome cesspool of corruption; as they are rumored to be paid to enable machineries write exams for students, (Olugbenga, 2012) of which if the government is not been careful, the nation would produce corrupt Professors in the future (Onu, 2014).

            Also, some schools’ principals and teachers engage machineries improve their schools’ academic performance in the examinations. Affluent students go to the examination council/board to buy high grades. Some unscrupulous lecturers force students to buy hand-outs as criteria for passing their continuous assessment. Administrative staff also compound issues for students by withholding students’ results to force their hands to bride or show appreciation to them before their results can be released. Unethical behavior in the school has forced female students into prostitution, as they use their bodies to lure lecturers for favours; while male students resort to cultism as a means of protection. Students pay bribe to be given admission into universities. This begs the question of the quality of Nigeria future leaders (Auwal, 2013). The upsurge of corruption in Nigeria in recent times is disturbing. It seems the menace has defied all treatment and the damages it has done to the national life cannot be quantified. Corruption is a global phenomenon, it is practiced everywhere, the Christians and all religious adherences are not left behind in it (Osoba, 1996).

            The menace of corruption has leads to slow movement of files in offices, police extortion at checkpoint and slow traffics on the highways, port congestion, queues at passport offices and gas stations, ghost workers syndrome, election irregularities and inconclusive, among others. Even the mad people on the street recognize the havoc caused by corruption – the funds allocated for their welfare disappear into the thin air (Dike, 2011). This observation by Dike portrays the true picture of what is happening in every establishment in Nigeria be it private or public schools. The situation becomes worse with the politicians who because of the quest for power manipulated votes and rigged elections. The judges are not left out. As a result of corruption, justice is perverted and judgment is delivered in favor of the election riggers who are able to pay their way through. Recently, some Judges of the appeal court were sanctioned by the National Judicial Commission for corrupt practices (See the Punch of 8^th February, 2011). It is a common belief that corruption is endemic in all facets of Nigerian educational circle or institution. It affects both the government and non-government organizations and it seems nothing can be done about it. Aluko (2002) rightly observed that, Corruption is a social malaise that has holistically permeates all the nerves of any polity. It is contagious and malignant to the physiology of any political system. Once it sets into any part; it automatically contaminates all the strata of the systems socio-political structures in ways symmetrical to the spread of a bush fire. (Aluko, 2002)

            Corruption indeed is the bane of any nation. Its malady cut across every religious denomination and political system and it affects both young and old, man and woman alike. It is like cancer that contaminates all strata of the socio-political and economic structure of any society and its malignant nature is difficult to treat. Corruption is not a contemporary affair it has been on for so long in Nigeria, even in Africa. Akindele (1996) noted that no regime in Nigeria can be exonerated from corruption. The menace has reached an unprecedented level most especially during Babangida and Abacha Regimes which saw the institutionalization of the statement syndrome. The era of Obasanjo witnessed a crusade against corrupt politicians and government official. During his eight year reigned, the country witnessed the establishment of EFCC and ICPC two bodies that was saddled with the responsibility of prosecuting corrupt officials, in their effort to sanitize the polity. The then Inspector General of Police Tafa Balogun and some bank officials were prosecuted but the efforts of these two bodies was short lived when the regime of Obasanjo ended in 2007(Olugbenga, 2012).

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