CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Our secondary school today offer some subject like chemistry, physics, English language, mathematics, economics, commerce,, fine art, history, government, geography, home economics etc in an attempt to categorize these subject above into broader areas, we would certainly findout that fall under science, social sciences and pure arts. These subject listed above are very important for our day to day exercise and they are designed to relate them to experience in life to achieve success therefore, both side have to be very active in other words, the teachers must be dedicated towards effective teaching and the students must strictly adhere to the rules governing hard work in order to succeed in the pursuit of their academic career in life. It therefore means that poor performance of students is serious problem which demands urgent solutions.

       Education is very vital in the human existence because the society and education are interrelated and inter-dependent. This can also be seen in the nature and development of a child born in a given society. The school is an umbrella governing children for different parental background and social background and as such the children learning and rate of academic development is closely related to other experience. The child’s performance in school is determined by environment which the child finds his or her self. In the socio economic different factors can be found, these include social, economic, psychological, cultural, genetic, environmental and emotional.

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEMS 

Education has been defined as a continuous process which start from birth and ends at death, parents, teacher’s educators and researchers are aware of factors that could influence or fell on a child performance in school. This effect of education on a child’s life can either be positive or negative and it can both be emphasized based on itemizing the importance of education. The potentiality of a person can be determined by both formal educations he set or receives. Research work on study has shown that when a child is born he is a tabular raser, but both other researchers have shown that a child does not take into school bank. He or she goes into school equipped with what his home has to offer, it is therefore important to know that the research work is designed to investigate and analyze the effect of socio-economic background students performance academically at senior school certificate examination (SSCE) in some selected secondary schools in Benin City. This work hopes to finds out the different in educational performance between children whose parents are academically, socially and economically balanced and those that are not academically, socially and economically balanced.

PURPOSE OF STUDY  

The purpose of this work is to find out or show the effect of socio economic on children performance in school. It is based on selected secondary schools in Benin City. The research work will show among other things suggested or proffer solutions to some of these problems that militate against student’s performances in school. This research work will assist students in the future who want to conduct researcher on the same topic. This project work therefore intends to examine if the under factors could affect the child’s performance academically.

1.          Economic academic backgrounds

2.          Socio economic status (SES) of parents   

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The following hypotheses have been formulated from the above assumptions.

a.          There is no significant relationship between facilities in the school and his academic performance in school

b.          There is a relation between structure and students academic performance

c.           The academic fulfillment of parents does not affect the child’s academic performance at school

d.          Depending on how good a child academic performance is bound to be affected.

Hypotheses Of The Study

A hypothesis is a tentative answer to a research question. It is often stated in the form of a relationship between a dependent and independent variable (Agbonifoh and Yemore, 1999). A hypothesis may be stated in a null form (Ho) or in the alternative (Ha). Thus, the following hypotheses are to be tested:

Hypothesis I

H01:    There is no relationship between structure and students academic performance.

Hypothesis II

H02:    There is no significant relationship between facilities in the school and academic performance in school.

SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY 

It has been asserted that a child performance in school is determined to a large extent by the socio-economic of the child, since social life is the primary source of letting. This work will therefore show the significance different in socio-economic of child with result to academic performance in school. This research work will assist curriculum planners in planning of school curriculum. It will help them recognize individual differences of individuals or parents.

       Apart from benefits of curriculum planners works, the teachers should make sure that a classroom learning situation should enter for various categories as well adjusted pupils or students. It also help create a new method of teaching conclusively, irrespective of parents, socio-economic status (SES) parents should endeavour to encourage their wards at home and provide them with all amenities that enhance academic performance.

SCOPE OF STUDY   

This research work restricts the researcher to just one of the reasons or factors affecting the educational performance of students at the senior school certificate examination (SSCE) in some selected secondary schools in Benin City. The researcher shall visits Itohan Girls, Emotan, Imaguero Secondary School and Idia College. These schools are the sample population which represents the entire population. The senior secondary I (SS I) students will in these schools represent the entire students population.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY  

       Due to the limitations faced by the researcher financially and in terms of time allocated for this work the study would be restricted to three secondary schools as earlier mentioned.

DEFINITION OF TERMS  

Social Class: Social class can be defined as a level o r class in society. this level is made up of individual who see income and occupation, value and some attitude towards social issues.

Economic Background: This has to do with wealth; the family is rich or poor. If they have factors land, houses, cars or if they don’t have at all.

Higher Education: This has to do with the educational qualification e.g. NCE, Bed, Med etc.

Lower Education: This refers to education which starts with the educational life of the students e.g. primary school, SSCE etc

Stimulating Homes: These are situations where individual are kept alert mentally by parents, by involving them in brain tasking activities and provision of learning requirements.