CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0     BACKGROUND OF STUDY.

For Nigeria to realize her dream in the development of junior secondary school, the citizen of the country must show outstanding performance in all secondary school subjects .In recent years, student academic achievement in junior secondary school certificate examination has been on the decline. Poor performance among junior secondary school students who are the focus of this study, has been attributed to two board factors which includes hereditary and environmental factors can be subdivided into students, home, teachers, and school factors (Nwankwo, 2001) .Ojunleye B. (2009) reports that one of the major causes of academic failure by students is deeply rooted in ineffective study techniques. She further observed that effective study habits do not just happen, rather they are acquired and have to be processed to make them firmly established in students to became a style of intellectual  functioning .Onyejiaku in iyalla(2001) strongly feels that there  are certain underlying techniques which every student who wants to excel in academic most recognize, realize,  internalize and practice .Academic performance basically devoted a student attainment in a learning situation .The academic performance of a student may be high average, good, poor, or low. Bal care (1986) outlined many factors, personality factors like anxiety, level of aspiration, motivation to learn, self concept need for achievement, emotional problems and study habit .Teaching and learning of junior subjects requires classroom teaching, laboratory investigation and field practices for effective acquisition of the skills.

          However, most junior secondary schools lack not only qualified teachers but also teaching materials for practical. Effective teaching in junior secondary schools depends on the way the teachers impact knowledge to the students frequent field practical, regular use of instructional material for teaching and learning .it has been discovered that if  these methods have been used effectively it will result for proper acquisition skills in junior secondary subjects. The establishment of junior secondary school education by the state government in Awka zone Anambra state like any other states has the same aims and objective as the national policy specify that secondary education is the education receive after primary education and before the tertiary institution

The junior secondary school certificate examination(JSSCE) is an external examination organized and conducted by the ministry of education, it is the only instrument that could evaluate the performance of both students and teachers at the end of junior secondary school career .The success or failure of the student in examination is a clear manifestation of the student academic activities during the course ,success or good performances determine a brighter future for the individual while failure  is disastrous as it always indicate ,a dropout which is the common effect in the area of this study.

Years back ‘academic performance of students in junior secondary school certificate examination(JSSCE) in Awka educational zone Anambra state had become mass failure .This sad perpetual occurrence in the area of study had become a matter for serious concern to parents, guardian , states and nation .This situation of things has made it  pertinent for us to ask why and what are the causes of mass failure of student and the effects in junior certificate examination in these years as compared to the past as the mass failure has reflected on the retrogression of a good considerable member of prospective youth in the state .It is against the background that this project focuses attention upon the major causes and effects that militate against student performance in the junior secondary school certificate examination in these selected  secondary schools over a number of years, without dealing on student activities while in school and unfold their weak points which have reflected their failure .The staffing and qualify of teachers in there schools should also be examined critically and relate it to students performance in the certificate examination .The part played by parents and guardian cannot be forgotten in the investigations and also the Anambra state government  running of secondary schools would be closely examined .The researcher is confident that among the above enumerated sources and others will foster a smooth research to find out the problems affecting student academic performance.

Finally, it is obvious that this findings of the study will definitely aspire the researcher to seek for possible suggestions and recommendations to students and teachers, parents, sponsors and government bring and end to student mass failure in a such external junior certificate examination and improve student performance in the future examination in these schools and other parts of the country having similar educational problems.  

1.1     STATEMENT OF PROBLEMS

Perhaps not much attention has been given to the performance of students in junior secondary school subjects in recent years .This neglect, no doubt has relegated this junior subjects to the background in our junior secondary certificate examination .

A close look at the 2004/2008 JSSCE result records confirms that student’s performance has been very poor generally and the increasing number of school dropout in the area of the study is a clear pointer of the theme.  It is obvious that one of the problems militating against student performance is caused by the students who are not dedicated to their studies in school. The administration, quality of teachers, and their method of teaching in these schools, the negative attitude of students in classroom, the parents in ability to provide useful materials like test books, exercise books and school fees, and problem of inadequate instructional materials for teaching and learning in schools. What then could be responsible for this problem in our junior secondary education system? This study, therefore, is directed at finding out the causes and effect of mass failure in junior secondary certificate examination.

1.2     PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

The main purpose of this study was to find out the causes and effect of mass failure in junior secondary school certificate examination. The interest of the researcher is to examine critically and identify the cause and effect of mass failure in junior secondary certificate examination. Specifically the study sought to find out if 1. There are sufficient numbers of qualified teachers in junior secondary school 2.The negative attitude of students towards mathematics 3.there are adequate instructional material 4. There are motivation to student by the teacher during mathematics class 5.There are good background from primary school and the contribution of parent towards their children, Allocation of sufficient time for teaching in junior classes.

 1.3    SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

Thestudent will be able to appreciate the importance of the effective domain like interest and motivation in improving their performance. With thisawareness, the student might put up a positive attitude, which will increase their performance and enhance higher grades in junior subjects. Junior secondary school teachers will also be able to adjust their teaching methods and offer remedial helps where they find out that student are putting up a low attitude towards the subject .State government will also see the need of guidance and counselor in each school’s, the ministry of Education and curriculum planners will find the result of this study useful for better organization of junior subjects in Education.

1.4     SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The research is a study on the causes and effect of mass failure in junior secondary school certificate examination (JSSCE) in Awka Education zone of Anambra state, the area in which attention is focused is on junior mathematics. It is limited only to junior secondary schools in Awka zone.

1.5     RESEARCH QUESTION

To carry out a detailed study of the research the following research question are developed.1.Does previous academic background affected students in studying mathematics? 2. To what extent does insufficient number of qualified mathematics teachers and shortage of instructional material affects student eagerness?  3. What effect does poor attitude of student and low interest in mathematics towards their performance in junior mathematics? 4. To what extent does difficult nature of mathematics as perceived by studenthaveontheir academic failure? 5. What are the suggested strategies for the improvement of students in mathematics examination?

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