AN ASSESSMENT OF PERCEIVED EFFECT OF POPULATION EXPLOSION ON THE STUDENTS OF PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION IN THE TEACHING OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS (A CASE STUDY OF FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Since Western education became firmly rooted in Nigeria, it has faced myriads of problems. Most of these problems are hardly lost on the
various governments, whether during colonial or post-independence era. It has resulted in the setting up of various commissions such as
Ashby Commission of 1960 and the Curriculum Conference of 1969 to examine Nigeria’s educational problems and make recommendations.
These problems pertained to the quantity and quality of teachers, educational facilities, curriculum planning and development (Adesina,
1990).
Most governments today accept in principle that the provision of education is a basic human right as embodied in article 26 of the
Declaration of Human Rights (Osim, Chike and Isaac, 2012). Through education, peace, good international relations, better prospects for
economic developments and improvement of human resources are possible (Omohan and Maliki, 2007). Despite this awareness, most
governments cannot fulfill this requirement of education due to large population sizes, rapid growth and competition for scarce financial
resources. In recent times, there has been increase in the population of our schools especially in terms of students enrollment in Edo State.
Some schools have as many as 60, 70 or above students per class as against the teacher student ratio of 1:40 recommended by the National
Policy on Education (FGN 2004). This has undoubtedly affected teaching and learning negatively as well as students academic performance.
This is evidence in the failure rates recorded by students in external examinations in virtually all subjects (Ajayi, 2000). The situation we have
in some of our schools in Edo state is that teachers find it difficult moving round the classroom because of the large class size. In view of the
divergent opinions expressed by different scholars on this issue, there is need to adopt a different perspective. The focus of the present
study therefore is to find out from secondary school teachers how classroom population affects their ability to manage instruction or teach
effectively.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
Over the years, there has been an increase in the population of students in colleges of education nationwide. This has been consistent,
without the attendant increase in facilities, teachers and infrastructure, etcetera. With the decline in the quality of education and output, it
therefore becomes imperative to find out whether the increase in population of students’ directly affect their academic performance and
identify the causes of increase in population of students in colleges of education in Zaria educational zone and what could be done to
remedy the situation.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The major aim of the study is to assess the perceived effect of population explosion on the students of physical and health education in the
teaching of physical and health education and sports. Other objectives of the study include;
- To examine the major causes of population explosion in colleges of education.
- To examine the effect of population explosion on teaching n and learning of physical education and sports in colleges of education.
- To examine the relationship between population explosion and students’ academic performance of physical education and sports.
- To recommend ways of improving the management population explosion in Nigeria colleges of education.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This project work is of great importance in the sense that, it will reveal the extent at which population explosion has affected student’s
academic performance. Also it reveals other factors affecting student’s performance as a result of population explosion. Furthermore, this
study will help the school authority and teacher to design some measures to curb the effect population explosion has on the academic
performance of students. And to the educationist, education curriculum as school structures will be carefully observed to help students
learning. More so, serving as a project that would be discovered that population explosion affect the academic performance of pupils.
Lastly, it will provide the relevant knowledge and serves as a research tool for those who need such materials.
SCOPE OF THE STUDY
The study is restricted to the perceived effect of population explosion on the students of physical and health education in the teaching of
physical education and sports in college of education Zaria, Kaduna state.
LIMITATION OF THE STUDY
Financial constraint- Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or
information and in the process of data collection (internet, questionnaire and interview).
Time constraint- The researcher will simultaneously engage in this study with other academic work. This consequently will cut down on
the time devoted for the research work
AN ASSESSMENT OF PERCEIVED EFFECT OF POPULATION EXPLOSION ON THE STUDENTS OF PHYSICAL AND HEALTH EDUCATION IN THE TEACHING OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND SPORTS (A CASE STUDY OF FEDERAL COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
