THE CONSEQUENCES OF BROKEN HOMES ON THE ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT  OF SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1       BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Scholars have examined education through the perspective of their own interpretations of what education involves. According to Castle (1995), education encompasses all that happens to us from the moment we are born to the moment we die. Education, according to Nwachi (2000), is a weapon for combating ignorance, poverty, and disease, a bridge between confusion and comprehension, a dam for conserving man's store of civilization and generating the power to move to greater civilization, and a means of transporting man from a state of intellectual subservience to a state of intellectual sovereignty. In a word, education is the intellectual, moral, and mental growth of a person in order for him to be valuable to himself and the community to which he belongs.

Broken households are said to hinder the advancement of children from such backgrounds since both parents are not present to direct and encourage the kid toward achieving educational goals. Children from broken households are more likely to have low academic achievement, according to popular belief (justine, 2002). As a result of the parents' divorce or separation, a kid may become a victim of a broken household. When this happens, the youngster is placed in the care of persons who are not his parents. Without any scientific proof, this individual is expected to act as a parental figure despite his or her dedication to his or her own children. It is evident that no one will treat a kid given to his care the same way he or she would treat his or her own child. As a result, the youngster is always misled and dissatisfied by the leadership style of the stepfather or stepmother (Evelyn, 2003). Such a child's frustration has no bounds. He is discriminated against and is subjected to psychological deprivations, and he brought his emotional frustration to school with him. He is more often preoccupied with the intimidation, prejudice, and deprivation he faces at home (Castle, 1995) than with listening to the teacher and taking notes. As a result, he has little or no interest in the learning materials, despite the fact that lessons should be attended and understood in the context of the subjects taught and presented at school (Joseph, 2001).

Aside from frustration, discouragement, and deprivation, the child may be malnourished and segregated by parental figure (i.e. mother) who feels she is wasting family resources on a child she did not give birth to; the child may lack necessary school materials and, in most cases, may grudgingly allow the child to attend school while that child is not given the necessary things that are vital for knowledge acquisition because he knows that,  (justine, 2002).

Since parenthood has been shown to have a negative impact on human learning, particularly in children, children who are raised in homes where parents are separated or divorced are more likely to experience sleep disturbances in class while learning, and are more likely to become irritable, fearful, aggressive, and withdrawn (Zanden, 1980). According to studies, children in single-parent households not only do or perform poorly in school due to a lack of self-control, but they also become disruptive in class, instead of paying attention to what is being taught in class, they are preoccupied with disturbing others who are ready to learn. Furthermore, it has been found that two years after a mother's marriage ends, she exerts less influence over her children than she did previously (Hetherington, 1982).

The difficulties that children from broken homes face in school, as well as the consequences of their failure, is a major issue that requires the attention of everyone, including the government (Clifford, 2000).

1.2       STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

The family has a significant impact on the child's education, both directly and indirectly. The home transmits culture and information to the kid throughout the preschool or formative years, correcting him when he goes wrong and leading him in other aspects of his life in society (Hetherington, 1982).

Broken households, on the other hand, are fairly prevalent. The issue is that broken households have genuinely produced a setback in the education of the children born into these families, consequently harming the academic achievement of these pupils (Evelyn, 2003).

1.3       OBJECTIVES  OF THE STUDY

The purpose of this study is to investigate the issues associated with broken homes and how they affect the education of children from such homes. It is hoped and believed that this study will inform teachers about the issues that children from broken homes face, allowing them to better adjust to their learning environments.

The study also aims to raise awareness of unstable households and their detrimental consequences on the education of children from such homes, as well as to educate parents about the issues connected with broken homes in order to reduce divorce and separation..

1.4       RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i. How can a student's academic performance suffer as a result of a broken home?

ii. How can maltreatment by stepparents affect kids' academic achievement in school?

iii. What are the noteworthy disparities in average academic achievement between students from broken and unbroken homes?

iv. What are the issues that come with having a broken home?

v. What can be done to reduce the severity of these issues?

1.5       SCOPE OF THE STUDY

The study is limited to chosen schools in Abeokuta North Local Government Area of Ogun State due to budget and time restrictions. The study is also limited to material resources accessible to the researcher throughout the study.

1.6       SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

The study effort is expected to serve as a guide for individuals who may do similar research in the future. In today's culture, the rate of marriage failure is on the rise. "When two elephants battle on the grass, the grass suffers," as the adage goes. Nobody cares what happens to the children born to such a household. It is thus necessary to conduct a timely research in order to provide valuable suggestions and recommendations to teachers on how to assist such unhappy youngsters in learning correctly in school so that they can achieve good academic results in school and contribute to society.

In truth, organizations such as UNICEF, the Ford Foundation, and others have expressed genuine interest and concern for Western children living in comparable circumstances to those in Africa. In most places of Nigeria, the influence of the aforementioned groups has been minimal. As a result, it is critical that this type of fundamentally led study be carried out in this region of the world.

This scarcity of information is also the impetus for this research, which aims to highlight the issues of broken families and the consequences of their children's schooling. It will aid in the resolving issues that have been discovered.

Finally, it will familiarize teachers with the issues raised and their implications for education, with the goal of finding ways to assist kids from such backgrounds in learning more effectively.

1.7       DEFINITION OF TERMS

i.  MARRIAGE:The legal tie between a husband and wife.

ii.  HOME: refers to the house or apartment where you reside, especially if you have a family.

iii.  Learning: a reasonably important to permanent change in an individual's behavior as a result of learning.

iv.  PERFORMANCE: refers to one's ability to do a task in accordance with instructions.

v.  STANDARD:  This term refers to the anticipated level of quality or stated degree of academic excellence, as well as its accomplishment in the system.

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