AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSES OF POOR PERFORMANCE AMONG STUDENTS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BILLIRI L.G. A. OF GOMBE STATE

AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CAUSES OF POOR PERFORMANCE AMONG STUDENTS IN SELECTED SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN BILLIRI L.G. A. OF GOMBE STATE

INTRODUCTION

1.1     BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The differential scholastic achievement of students in Nigeria has been and is still of concern and research to educators, government and parents. This is so because of the great importance that education has on the national development of the country. All over the country, there is a consensus of union about the fallen standard of education in Nigeria (Adebule, 2004). Parents and government in total agreement that their huge investment on education is not yielding the desired dividend. Teachers also complain of student’s low performance at both internal and external examination. The annual releases of senior secondary certificate examination results (SSCE) conducted by West African Examination Council (WAEC) justified the problematic nature and generalization of poor secondary school students performance in different school subjects. For instance, the percentage of failure compared with students who passed English and Mathematics between  2007 to 2010 is shown below.

Table 1: The West African Examination Council (WAEC) performance in senior school certificate examination May/June 2007-2010 in mathematics.

Year Total No of  candidate Credit A 1 6% Pass P7-P8% Fail F9%
2007 1019524 33.97 28.16 34.47
2008 1054853 38.20 25.36 34.41
2009 1149277 41.12 31.09 24.95
2010 1249028 46.75 26.72 24.29

Source: statistics office, WAEC, Lagos, Nigeria 2012.

 

Table 2: The West African examination council (WAEC) performance in the Senior School Certificate Examinations: May/June 2007-2010 English.

Year Credit A 1-C6 Fail F9
2007 29.59 37.61
2008 25.36 36.93
2009 34.48 29.55
2010 29.94 26.54

Source: Statistic office, WAEC, Lagos, Nigeria 2012.

Poor academic performance according to Aremu (2003) is a performance that is adjudged by the examinee/testee and some other significant as failing below an expected standard. Poor academic performance has been observed in school subjects especially Mathematics and English Language among secondary school students (Adesemowo, 2005). Aremu (2000) stresses that academic failure is not only frustrating to the students and parents, its effects are equally grave on the society in terms of death of manpower in all spacers of the economy and politics.

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