Full Project – INFLUENCE OF BROKEN MARRIAGES ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IKORODU LGA, LAGOS STATE

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CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

 1.1   Background of the Study

The family is the child’s first introduction to the outside world. As a result, the youngster receives his or her earliest education and socialization from parents and other prominent family members. The family establishes the psychological, moral, and spiritual groundwork for the child’s entire development. A broken home in this context is defined as a home that is physically deficient as a result of divorce or separation by parents.

 Education has always been a vital institution in the majority of societies, and Agogo (2006) cited Aliu (2001) as describing education as the process through which a society passes its knowledge, culture, and values from generation to generation. Furthermore, it was emphasized that education is the eye of an individual; it is the process through which a person receives knowledge, develops skills, and cultivates the talents and attitudes essential for workplace survival.

Indeed, education has developed into a massive government enterprise, characterized by a progressive expansion of dynamic government engagement and active participation (FGN 2004). With the current educational system in place, people today view education as a right, not a privilege. This instills a sense of belonging in everyone since everyone views himself/herself as having a responsibility to fulfill. As a result, many people feel that education is the path to success, and against this backdrop, education is ranked as an individual’s eye (Agogo 2006).

According to Hornby (2000), a house is defined as a group of people who live together and how they act, whereas a family is defined as a group of one or two parents and their children (Ibid). A broken home is a word that refers to a household, most often in relation to parenting, in which the family unit does not operate correctly in accordance with established societal standards (Wikipedia online).

The purpose of this research is to examine the influence of family units that do not adhere to established societal standards on the academic performance of secondary school pupils in the Ikorodu Local Government Area. Individual disparities in performance are assumed to exist within any cohort of learners. The instructor may notice that children do not all learn at the same rate in a class of 40 children. Despite the fact that he employed the same materials and methods throughout the class (Mallum& Haggai 2004), there are variances in students’ academic achievement. Several elements, however, have been presented as possible explanations for such disparities in performance, human intelligence, environment, and the meaninglessness of learning materials; learning style, for example, may influence the rate of learning (Ibid).

The identification of a broken home as a factor influenceing academic performance is not surprising given that the family is the fundamental unit of society (Abah 2006), and the home has a significant influence on the psychological, emotional, social, and economic well-being of the student (Ajila and Olutola 2007). Because parents are the first socializing agents in an individual’s life, the status of the house has an influence on the individual (Ibid). The primary factor laying the emotional, moral, and spiritual groundwork for a child’s total growth is his or her family (Uwaifo 2008).

It is ideal that the school is responsible for experiences that equip and make up the individuals life during school periods but however, the parents and the individuals’ experiences at home play tremendous roles in building the personality of the child and determining the child school life. Thus Ichado (1998) concluded that the environment in which the student comes from can greatly influence his personality and performance of secondary school students and hence the importance of education warrants the desire for this study so as to research the influence of broken home on academic performance of secondary school students and recommend possible remedies to such influence. The place of secondary education in the entire educational process is highly essential and need not to be neglected hence the quality of primary and secondary education play great role in determining the quality and sometimes the quantity of higher institutions for people (Agogo 2006).

1.2   Statement of the Study

Over the years, the investigations of the factors that influence academic performance of students have attracted the interest of teachers, counselors, psychologist, researchers and school administrators in Nigeria (Wiseman 1998). This is because of the public outcries concerning the low standard of education in the country (Imoge 2002). The declining quality of education in the country in general and Ikorodu Local Government area of Lagos State in particular as characterized by poor academic performance and the breeding of graduates with little technical know-how has resulted into serious set-back in the industrial development of the nation in general and poor turn-out of qualified students in Ikorodu Local Government for admission into the various tertiary institutions in the country.

Factors such as students internal state namely intelligence, state of health, motivation, anxiety among others as well as their environment which includes availability of suitable learning environment, adequacy of educational infrastructure have been identified as possible courses of poor academic performance. For example, a daily sketch publications on “causes and curses of poor performance at West African School Certificate Examination (WASCE)” in 2006 identified and categorized problems responsible for students poor performance to problems of teachers, problems of inadequate facilities in schools, problems traceable to students, problems caused by parents and society at large and problems caused by government policies and low funding of educational sector (Ajila and Olutola, 2007).

With regards to problems caused by parent, Ichado (1998) said that parents constant disagreement affects children emotionally and could lead to poor academic performance while Bichlery 1996, and Agbo (1997) revealed that children from broken home exhibit lower self-esteem, lower achievement motivation and lover tolerance for delay of gratification and lower academic achievement than those from intact homes where both parents are present.

It is on the basis of the above that the researcher intends to carry-out this study on the influences of Broken marriages on Academic Performance of Secondary School Students in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State. The researcher intends to find out the magnitude of adverse influence the broken marriages has on the academic performance of secondary school students.

1.3   Purpose of the Study

This study is primarily focused on achieving certain objectives which are as follows:

• To determine the extent to which children living with their own married parents perform academically better than children living with foster parents.
• To determine the extent to which children who live with both parents perform academically better than children who live with single parent(s).
• To determine the extent to which broken home influence the level of parental attention given to children.
• To determine the degree of influence broken home exert on the level of academic motivation given by parents to their children.
• To determine the influence of broken home on the emotional atmosphere in homes.
• To assess the degree in which broken home affect the socio-economic status of parents.
• To assess the influence of broken home on the emotional stability of children.

1.4   Research Questions

The problem of this study centers on determination of the influences broken home has on academic performance of secondary school students with reference to some selected secondary schools in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State. This problem has given rise to the following research questions and assumptions which this investigation is meant to address:

• To what extent do children living with their own married parents perform academically better than children living with foster parents?
• To what extent do children who live with single parent perform academically better than children who live with both father and mother?
• To what extent have broken marriages affected the level of attention given to students by their parents?
• To what degree have broken marriages affected the level of academic motivation given by parents to their children?
• To what degree have broken marriages affected the emotional atmosphere in homes?
• To what degree do broken marriages affect the socio-economic status of parents?
• To what degree do broken marriages affect the emotional stability of children?

1.5   Research Hypothesis

The following null hypothesis has been formulated to guide the study:

Hypothesis I

There is no significant difference between the academic performance of children living with their own married parents and children living with foster parents.

Hypothesis II

There is no significant difference between the academic performance of children living with their father and mother and their counter-part living with single parent.

Hypothesis III

There is no significant difference between the level of parental attention received by children from broken marriages and their counter-part from intact homes.

Hypothesis IV

There is no significant difference between the level of academic motivation given by broken marriages to their children and that given by intact homes.

Hypothesis V

There is no significant difference between the level of emotional stability of children from broken marriages and their counter-part from intact homes.

1.6   Significance of the Study

It is hoped that at the end of this study, many stakeholders in education will benefit from the findings. Teachers, curriculum planners, educational administrators, students and even the government will find this study useful. The findings of this study may form the frame work for organizing seminars aiming at correcting deficiencies especially in homes and the marriage process and also improve teacher’s performance in the schools. This study will also be useful to the government in formulating educational policies. Curriculum planners and educational guidance and counselors will also use this study as a guide to their actions.

1.7   Scope of the Study

The study is specifically limited to the investigation into the influences of broken marriages on the academic performance of secondary school students in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State with emphasis on eight selected senior secondary schools from the area.

1.8   Operational Definition of terms

• Academic Performance: This is defined as an objective score of attainment after a specified instructional programme.
• Secondary School: Learning institution which comes after the primary school for children over eleven years where systematic training and instructions takes place.
• Senior Secondary School: The last three years in the secondary school that comes after the first three years. That is the last three years in secondary school that comes after junior secondary or basic education. It is usually for children over 14 years.
• School Drop-out: To discontinue schooling or stop going to school as a result of hindering factors such as inadequate finance, emotional problem, inadequate motivation and intellectual decline.
• Achievement Motivation Training: A training that is given to a student to enhance greater rate of progress or improve academic performance.
• Foster Home: Living with persons that are not one’s own biological parents.
• Intact Home: Living with one’s own married mother and father. An intact home is a home with both parents present.
• Single-Parent Family: A family that comprises either only the father or the mother caring and showing parental responsibilities to children or child.
• Parental Attention: Parents ability to listen to children’s needs and problems and provide adequate solutions. That is parent’s ability to have enough time for children’s affair.
• Academically Motivated Homes: Homes that provides the child with all his/her necessary needs such as school fee, textbooks, writing materials, school uniform, pocket money, food, shelter among others.
• Emotional Stability: One’s ability to feel happy loved and act freely without fear or anger.

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