CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background to the Study
Drug abuse is said to be the taking of a drug under circumstances and at doses that significantly increase the hazard to the individual or to others (Okey and Ajibo, 2005).
However, there is a general concern in Nigeria over cases of drug abuse among government both in the military and civilian dispensations. The international community has expressed similar concern on the spate of drug abuse in Nigeria and Africa as a whole. Curbing the incidence of drug abuse in Nigeria has remained a formidable task. The menace of drug abuse in our country has reached a frightening proportion and it has pervaded every sector of our society. Drug, which are made from natural and medical substances formulated by pharmacists for the cure of people’s ailments, is used wrongly and abused by people across the social strata. A lot of people just work across to the nearby chemist to their houses to buy drugs which are not prescribed for them by a pharmacist or a doctor, thus abusing the drugs.
There are lots of dangers in drug abuse. In fact, many families have endangered the live of their members through self medication. There are cases of many small children who lost their lives simply because their parents, out of ignorance, purchased drugs from chemists and even in the common markets without any doctor’s prescription and administered such drugs on their children.
In our society nowadays, it is common to see young children with one deformity or the other. This is so because many pregnant women abuse drugs easily. They simple buy drugs and use them without doctor’s prescription during pregnancy. The resultant effect of this ignorant act is that most babies are born with one deformity or the other (Ukpong, 2003).
Drug abuse also leads to the several psychiatric cases we have around in the country. Several youths take drugs such as heroine, cocaine, Indian hemp which affects their brain. They take these drugs ostensibly because they want to be in fashion and they want to be daring and bold. Consequently, most of them constitute themselves into nuisance to the society and end up in psychiatric hospitals.
Our national prestige and honour are not spared of the gruesome effect of the social malaise called drug abuse. Many Nigerians traveling abroad are subjected to derogatory search at the point of entry into other countries. This has destroyed our international image as many Nigerians are found to be carriers and couriers of these hard drugs.
The school system is not left without the same problem. There are reported cases of drug abuse in the school today. Many crimes in the school system can be linked to drug abuse. The high rate of criminal activities in our schools is a pointer to the danger inherent in drug abuse. Students who are drug addicts operate under the influence of drugs which make them to be so daring, indiscipline and ruthless in their nefarious activities. Because of the alarming rate of drug abuse by adolescents, indiscipline behaviours such as truancy, cultism, sexual harassment and examination malpractice have become prevalent in our schools.
Today, in our schools, it is common to see teachers being often molested, beaten up and assaulted by students. On the other hand, students are denied their rights in school, molested and severely beaten up by teachers who are drug addicts in the name of discipline or being groomed. It is very disheartening to note that there is a general decline in discipline, academic abilities and performance of students as well as the standard of the teaching-learning process sequel to the vices put up by teachers and students as a result of drug abuse and misuse.
1.2 Statement of the Problem
The academic performance of secondary school students in Biology and other subjects in internal and external school examinations has been on the decline over the years. Researchers over the years had investigated the possible factors responsible for the poor academic performance of students in school examinations. Factors such as teachers’ teaching methods, inadequate instructional materials, students’ attitude towards studies, parental background of learners, poor educational facilities in our schools and lack of teachers’ commitment in discharging their duties have been reported.
To ameliorate the problem of poor academic performance of students which has become a recurring feature of our educational system, government have made concerted efforts to improve on the performance of students in schools through the provision of basic teaching and learning facilities, adequate instructional materials as well as the recruitment of qualified and experienced teachers in our schools. All these efforts not withstanding, it is obvious that the academic performance of students has remained nothing to write home about and does not commensurate with the level of government financial and materials commitment in the educational sector.
However, available data have shown that little or no research has been carried out along the line of drug abuse in relation to students’ academic performance in our schools. There is no doubt in the fact that most of the social vices and indisciplined conducts perpetuated by students in school which culminated into their poor academic performance could be associated with drug misuse and abuse. It is against this background that this study on “Drug Abuse and the Academic Performance of Biology Students in Secondary Schools in Oruk Anam Local Government Area” became imperative.
