COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS BETWEEN THE PERFORMANCE OF PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SCHOOLS STUDENTS (EDUCATION PROJECT TOPICS AND MATERIALS)
CHAPTER ONE
- INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND TO THE STUDY
Learning has been so much associated with the school that some people almost think that learning goes on only in schools. This view of learning has been greatly reinforced by such reference to schools as institutions of learning and to Universities, Polytechnics and College of Education as institutions of higher learning (Okoye, 2011). There is no doubting the fact that much learning goes on in school. The school is particularly and specifically arranged so as to facilitate effective learning. Unfortunately the poor condition of our schools, particularly the secondary schools today in the nation raises a lot of anxiety. A cursory look at these school in spite of government efforts reveals schools dominated by dilapidated buildings, school void of good furniture and equipment, schools where instructional materials are either not provided or are inadequate; school that are under-staffed; schools, where teachers’ salaries and allowances are not promptly paid, schools that have not been inspected for the last 15 years; schools where there are no discipline among other things. The government, and especially the parents are very much concerned with the quality and volume of learning acquired by their children, wards and citizens as this is related to the quality and quantity of the contribution which the individual can make to his immediate family, community and the nation as a whole. (Thorndike, 2009). Several studies by Sociologist, Psychologists and Educationists showed that the type of schools a learner attends has profound influence on his academic achievement. For instance, Bibby and Peil (2009) noted that children who attended private secondary schools performed better than students in public schools. This view is also supported by Lioyd (2006) as he contended further that the public schools which saw education as good thing, tended to leave the question of educational success or failure in the hands of the public and their parents. This implies that the business of education is not taken with all the seriousness it demands in the public schools. This of course is what may be regarded as the general apathy of the citizenry to government’s owned business or property. A situation that has resulted in lackadaisical attitude of government’s workers, including teachers in the public schools tend to believe that an intelligent child would succeed automatically at school without any active assistance coming from them.
The overall objective in every teaching –learning interaction as usually required is to bring about harmonious development of the individual and acquisition of the desired knowledge, values and skills to enable him/her function in a particular way. The process of teaching needs to be supervised for effective teaching- learning process. The syllabus and curriculum system must be given special care and consideration so as to achieve the desired objectives. Thus, when curriculum system is ensured in every school, there will be positive developments that will bring permanent change in the behavior of the learner signifying that learning has taken place. However, human societies differ in the way they teach their children values, norms and skills, while others impart skills in formal way, through organized system, that is a well-recognized system approved by the ministry of education. Others prefer more traditional ways in inculcating such desired values, notwithstanding the particular society in which learning takes place, and methodology used, a number of variables interact together to bring about a stable and permanent changes in behavior. Of teaching and learning are hampered. Consequently, besides the two important variables mentioned in teaching learning process, the environment in which learning takes place has to be conducive for learning. In formal learning, schools are not just a place to learn, to read and write but also receive complete education. Therefore, schools have to provide suitable environment for effective and proper development of the learner so as to acquire the desired skills, but where the school environment is deficient or lacking in the materials required for effective learning, the designed objectives could not be achieved.
