CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background To The Study
The school environment is intended to have an impact on a student’s learning behavior. However, one of the challenges with education is truancy, which is a source of concern for both parents and school officials. Truancy has been identified as a concern among students in schools worldwide, notably in Nigeria (Animashaun, 2002). Truancy, as defined by Eremie (2015), is a student’s deliberate irregular attendance at school. Similarly, according to Osarenren (1996), truancy is defined as a student’s inability to get permission from his or her parents and school. Truancy occurs when a pupil is absent without an excuse from a parent, guardian, or school, according to Seeley (2006).
Furthermore, truancy refers to the antisocial conduct of students who fail to attend school. Truants engage in disruptive behavior in class, such as truancy, absenteeism, tardiness, and class cutting, which impedes an effective teaching and learning process. Disruptive behavior is a major issue in the educational sector. Truants create school disruption by breaking school rules, generating challenging learning conditions, and disturbing the teaching environment, according to Veiga (2008). As a result, truancy has a negative influence on students since it disrupts classroom management throughout the teaching and learning process. In addition, truancy among students includes being late to school and class, leaving school before the conclusion of the day, loitering, evading teaching, and absenteeism (Brooks, 2001). Absenteeism, on the other hand, is a high rate of absence from school by students when regular attendance is necessary. Students use truancy to escape from an undesirable environment that causes anxiety, or to leave school in order to gain independence. According to Cone (2012), truants leave home but do not attend school or flee from school to participate in bad activities that attract their attention. Truancy, according to Uwakwe (1998), has an influence on the social environment of the school, generating an atmosphere of dread and hindering students’ capacity to study.
In light of the foregoing, several anti-truancy campaign techniques have been used by government and non-governmental students in an effort to combat student truancy. One such regulation that encourages regular school attendance is the rogram. Unfortunately, appropriate data on truancy among students are not kept in schools, and government anti-truancy initiatives and programs in Nigeria are equally ineffectual.
A teacher’s evaluation of pupils’ truancy is essentially necessary for early identification of those who are at danger. The evaluation might be carried out by gathering baseline data from the pupils’ overall performance in school activities. Unfortunately, truancy evaluation among at-risk students has not gotten the attention it deserves. Managing disruptive behavior and personal difficulties among students, including absenteeism, has become crucial. As a result, the purpose of this study is to evaluate the prevalence of truancy among adolescents in public secondary schools.
1.2 Statement Of The Problem
According to Henry (2007), the effects of truancy are wide, with negative ramifications for numerous levels of society. Truancy can predict maladjustment, low academic performance, school dropout, substance misuse, delinquency, and adolescent pregnancy in the near run. According to Mike (2014), truancy frequently has direct implications for students in the form of lower academic success since students have less opportunities to study while they are away from class. When truancy leads to school failure or school, students are more likely to have unwanted pregnancies, engage in more criminal conduct, have more volatility in their professional pathways, have higher rates of unemployment, and have lower lifetime earnings (Nilly, 2013).
Furthermore, absenteeism has both immediate and longterm public safety effects for communities. Truant teenagers have been caught engaging in illegal activities such as burglary, vehicle theft, and vandalism. Communities with high rates of truancy are likely to have high rates of daytime criminal behavior as well (Aderayor, 2011). In the long run, formerly truant students’ lower educational and vocational performance is expected to enhance their likelihood of adult crime and imprisonment. This study examines the prevalence of truancy among teenagers in public secondary schools within this context.
1.3 Objectives Of The Study
The major aim of this study is the prevalence of truancy among adolescents in public secondary schools. Inline with this, the study will be guided by the following specific objectives;
1. Ascertain the extent to which adolescents engage in truant behavior among public secondary schools
2. Determine whether lack of interest in school activities contribute to the rate of truancy among adolescents in public secondary schools.
3. Determine whether shortage of teachers, and poor teaching methods contribute to the rate of truancy among adolescents in public secondary schools.
4. Identify the possible solutions to the prevailing rate of truancy in public secondary schools.
1.4 Research Questions
This study will be guided by the following questions;
1.       What is the extent to which adolescents engage in truant behavior in public secondary schools?
2.       Does lack of interest in school activities contribute to the rate of truancy among adolescents in public secondary schools?
3.       Does shortage of teachers, and poor teaching methods contribute to the rate of truancy among adolescents in public secondary schools?
4.       What are the possible solutions to the prevailing rate of truancy in public secondary schools?
