Complete Project – SCHOOL PLANT MAINTENANCE ON STUDENT’S ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS
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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Secondary education plays a crucial role of preparing students for higher education and useful living in Nigeria. It is considered by many Nigerians as education that would enable them prepare for living a balanced socio-economic life. This accounts for why many parents work hard in providing the resources needed to send their children to „quality schools‟. To many of them, the quality of a school depends largely on the physical, technical and stock of educative resources that a school has per time. These further accounts for why successive governments at the Federal and State levels allocate a huge sum of money for education from its yearly budget to develop and manage school plants in secondary schools. School plant is the totality of resources that define the learning environment of a school institution. School plant is defined as the physical expression of the school programmes and activities (Adesina, 2001).
School plants planning such as school site planning, instructional space planning, administrative space planning, space of convenience planning and circulation space planning are essential in teaching and learning process in the school system. The extent to which, these spaces may enhance better teaching and learning depends on their location, structure and facilities within the school premises. It is likely that well planned school plants in terms of location, structure and facilities will facilitate effective teaching and learning process and enhance better learning outcomes of the students.
Odupurokan (2011) states that a well planned school plant will gear up expected outcomes of education, that will facilitate good social, political and economic emancipation; effective teaching and learning and academic performance of students. Therefore it can be said that the school plant is an essential aspect of educational planning because unless schools are well suited, buildings adequately constructed and equipment adequately provided much teaching and learning may not take place. Corroborating these, Mark (2002) and Ajayi (2007) maintained that high levels of students’ academic performance may not be guaranteed where instructional space such as classrooms libraries, technical workshop and laboratories are lacking.
Olagboje (2008) sees school plant maintenance as any work carried out on any component of the plant with a view to keeping it at good working condition. According to Hinum (1999) the quality and durability of a building largely depend on the type and level of servicing, repairs and the rate at which the needs and requirement change. School facilities management involves keeping records of the facilities, supervising the facilities, planning for the facilities, motivating students and students to participate in facilities maintenance and evaluating the available facilities.
Good physical working condition in any occupation can have a positive impact upon job academic performance and morale. According to Ayodele (2000), it is difficult to separate teaching academic performance from school environment. Physical surroundings (school plant) impact job satisfaction and hence job performance – teaching.
Bankole (2003) contends that the physical environment has been shown to play a significant role in teaching academic performance. Students agree that the facilities in which they teach can deter the quality of their teaching, if the physical environment is substandard. A student that teaches in a classroom with a projector and interactive board will definitely be more effective than a student using black board (Chalk and Talk).
It is important to note that while new students are needed to address retirement and enrollment growth, more emphasis should be placed upon retaining the students already employed. When students are retained, it boosts the learning attitudes and behavior of students. Students learn better from students whom they have already developed a bond or familiarity. Educational equipment within the classroom such as chairs and table for students, buildings and playgrounds are just as important as any other school plant. However, the two former (classroom and educational equipment and buildings) are very vital in the teaching-learning process. Although, teaching and learning do not only take place within the school, yet for proper implementation of classroom curriculum and effective delivery of class instruction, the role of classroom and educational equipment and buildings such as a spacious and well-ventilated classroom cannot be undermined in a formal school environment. In regards to the latter category of school plant (playground), this is arguably needed to support co-curricular activities of the school.
School plant is very essential to achieving positive outcomes in the teaching – learning process. The school plant is the pillar and support of all teaching and learning activities. The site, size, arrangement and other aspects of the classroom, support facilities such as labs, toilets and other equipment can either be welcoming or repulsive to students and students alike. This simple fact has been noted to profoundly influence the acts of teaching and learning.
In addition, Adesina (2001) stressed that the quality and quantity of educational facilities available within an educational system positively correlates with the quality and standard of the educational system. Durosaro (2008) examined school plant maintenance in relation to administrative academic performance of secondary schools in Oyo state of Nigeria. He found that schools that planned and maintained their facilities had higher students’ retention and is more effective than the others.
Statement of the Problem
It is likely that poor instructional space planning may lead to poor teaching and learning situation which in turn may lead to poor students’ learning outcomes.
Okafor and Betiang (2003) opines that the avalanche of problems faced in the education system culminate in falling standards and loss of confidence in the Nigerian education system. Public outcry about the debilitated state of Nigerian education has yielded little or no result. Government and its education policy making apparatus seem to be slap happy as evidenced by shoddy handling of the economy, without much result to show for its effort at tackling a plethora of problems. Political parties also cash in on the heightened public concern for improvement in the educational system, however they only pay lip service to this urgent situation.
Adebayo (2009) aptly captured the level of decline in Nigerian education system by stating that “a casual visit to any public school in Nigeria would reveal the extent to which these educational institutions have decayed”. Educational facilities at all levels are in a terrible shape; schools are littered with battered structures; worn out equipment (where they are available at all); overcrowded classrooms; inadequate manpower in quantity and quality; instability in the academic calendar owing to strikes; very low student (staff) morale due to poor remuneration and working conditions”. Therefore it is pertinent to redress the deplorable situation of the educational system in order to shore up academic standards. A veritable means of achieving this feat is to look into the situation of crumbling infrastructures.
The pathetic situation in Nigeria schools is worsened by the fact that enrolment in schools increase without commensurate expansion of school or provision of adequate facilities in schools. Most Nigerian public schools have been in existence for a relatively long period with the same limited classrooms, open space, library, laboratory etc. Such schools have witnessed little or no renovation over time, while virtually nothing is done to expand the size of facilities in such schools.
Dearth of funds is a major constraint to provision of adequate school facilities. This has led to a devastatingly low level of provision of adequate physical facilities in Nigerian schools. Even when funds are allocated to education, they are often diverted and not spent on building infrastructure improvements.
Teaching academic performance has been accepted as a multidimensional construct since it measures a variety of different aspects of teaching such as; subject mastery, effective communication, lesson preparation and presentation (Onyeachu 2006). The influence of students’ teaching academic performance on the learning outcome of students as measured by students’ academic performance has been the subject of several studies (Ayodele, 2000).
Student academic performance is important because effective teaching helps student learning. It has become even more important as the emphasis on quality in higher education has increased. Effective teaching does not occur by chance. Effective students have become good at what they do because they evaluate their practice. Odupurokan (2011) suggests that “educational evaluation is a professional responsibility for academic staff, arising from a commitment to understanding the effects of teaching on students and to enhance student learning.”
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of this research is to examine school plant maintenance on students’ academic performance in senior secondary schools in Education District II Lagos State. The objectives include:
- To examine the psychological effects of school plant maintenance on students’ academic performance.
- To find the major source of funding of school plant maintenance in Senior Secondary Schools.
- To examine the influence of school plant maintenance and its effects on the students’ response to study in Secondary Schools.
- Examine the impacts of school plant maintenance on the quality of education in Secondary Schools.
Research Questions
In assessing the purpose of the study, this research project will answer the following questions:
- What are the psychological effects of school plant maintenance on students’ academic performance?
- What are the major sources of funding for school plant maintenance in Senior Secondary Schools?
- What is the influence of school plant maintenance on students’ response to study in Secondary Schools?
- What are the impacts of school plant maintenance on the quality of education in Secondary Schools?
Research Hypothesis
In carrying out this research work the following theoretical statements are buttressed to serve as a direction on which the work will be premised:
H1: There is no relationship between school plant maintenance and students’ academic performance in secondary school.
H2: There is no relationship between school plant maintenance and quality of education in Secondary Schools.
Significance of the Study
The findings of this study will equip our general knowledge on school plant maintenance in secondary schools in Education District II, Lagos State. The findings will contribute to information that can be used in organizing seminars and workshop for the improvement of the quality of school facilities and how best they will aid the attainment of students optimum performance which will help in the long run, to make the school system effective.
Furthermore, the study will be used by the Ministry of Education and other policy making organs of government especially in the measures they adopt in resolving the identified factors militating against school plant maintenance in secondary schools in order to attain the stated secondary education goals and objectives in Lagos State. The findings of this study will reveal the best ways or measures to be taken in order to improve the quality of education in Lagos state; which helps to promote students’ productivity and effective school system as a whole.
This study will enable government to know the state of school plant maintenance in most secondary schools, providing an insight through which the problems could be resolved.
It will also help the society to appreciate an effective school plant maintenance as an agent of political, social and religious development of a community which can compel them into passing the right judgment and taking the right decision that affect their lives and existence.
Scope of the Study
The research work examines school plant maintenance on student’s academic performance in senior secondary schools in Lagos State. The research is confined to the institution under study.
Definition of Relevant Terms
- School plant maintenance: This is an educational set up such as school and means of considering various ways to put up the structured features to suit the instructional and learning processes.
- Student: This is a person whose job is to teach students about certain subjects.
- Academic performance: this is the degree to which a student is successful in producing a desired result in the classroom
- Student: A student is a learner or someone who attends an educational institution.
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Complete Project – SCHOOL PLANT MAINTENANCE ON STUDENT’S ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE IN SENIOR SECONDARY SCHOOLS